Senior Social Worker

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

01Basic Requirements

United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken & written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

02Education

Have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Graduates of schools of social work that are in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the School of Social Work is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work.

Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.

03Licensure

Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. Exception. VHA may waive the licensure or certification requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of state prerequisites for licensure/certification examinations.

This exception only applies at the GS-9 grade level. For the GS-11 grade level and above, the candidate must be licensed or certified. At the time of appointment, the supervisor, chief social work or social work executive will provide the unlicensed/uncertified social worker with the written requirements for licensure or certification, including the time by which the license or certification must be obtained and the consequences for not becoming licensed or certified by the deadline.

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grandfathering Provision. The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title 38 hybrid qualification standards.

Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation. All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation.

For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.

Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.

Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.

If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. § 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation. NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS 0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection.

If they choose to return at a later date to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker.

04Grade Determinations

GS-12 Experience/Education: The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice.

Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty.

Licensure/Certification: Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.

In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.

Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes. Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills.

Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area.

05Preferred Experience

Clinical Acute Mental Health Social Work Evaluation, Treatment, and Care Coordination in BOTH Inpatient Mental Health Units and Emergency Departments. Discharge planning for Veterans with acute Mental Health needs. Experience delivering Safety Planning interventions to Suicidal Veterans and Evidence Based Psychotherapies. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

06Physical Requirements

Physical demands of the work are generally minor, as the position requires sitting, standing, and walking. This position also requires the incumbent be trained in therapeutic containment and personal safety skills in the most advanced levels of Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior (PMDB) which requires blocking strikes and grabs, dropping to knees and lunging forward and balancing on an extended leg.

The incumbent will work independently in the Emergency Department during weekends days serving as the facility expert consultant on crisis intervention providing 100% face to face clinical care. The incumbent is expected to act as a clinical lead, coordinate programming, assist with process improvement projects, and provide intervention for the Suicide Prevention Initiative from the ED (SPED) and related data reporting.

Services provided to Veterans presenting to the ED include crisis intervention and clinical services such as, brief psychotherapy intervention and case management, resource management for homeless veterans, interventions to patients with severe mental illnesses, sleep hygiene counseling, bereavement counseling, substance use disorder education, referral, and resource management, psychiatric hospital admissions, sexual assault counseling, interpersonal violence counseling, and referrals to both VA and non-VA follow up services.

The PES senior social worker will independently provide excellent clinical interventions to mitigate the frequency of acute hospitalizations.

The incumbent is an also an adjunct case manager on Mondays and Fridays for Veterans admitted to the Inpatient Mental Health Unit (H2-IPU) and performs complex and independent services including evaluation of needs, connection to resources, disposition and discharge planning, recovery-based treatment planning, advanced safety planning for suicide prevention, facilitating unit recovery programming, gathering collateral data from families, and assisting with regulatory compliance aspects of quality assurance for care provided.As a Senior Social Worker, the incumbent assists the Acute Programs Coordinator in planning, establishing, and implementing policies and procedures, as needed.

The incumbent tracks and adheres to all current directives of VHA and meets current Joint Commission as well as Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) standards, state licensure standards, and VA-OIG expectations. The incumbent can be asked to assist with any or all the following: Assist with ongoing reviews and appraisals to ensure the accomplishment of objectives and adherence to standards set by governing bodies. Assist with compliance audits.

• Develop individual therapy, group counseling and general program goals and objectives.
• Manage and control the use of data related to the program regarding day to day functioning for the purpose of process improvement.
• Plan, organize and directs program operations, clinical practice, and patient activities for the program.
• Assist in the identification of qualified MSW candidates for vacant positions and ongoing clinical support and consultation to social work staff on the Inpatient Mental Health Unit.

Develop policies and procedures for in the Inpatient Mental Health Unit. Collect and report data related to staffing and resource allocation. The incumbent performs other related duties as assigned. This Senior Social Worker adheres to the NASW Code of Ethics. Work Schedule: Friday - Monday 7:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. This is a 50/50 position working (4) 10-hour shifts covering both Weekend Days in Psychiatric Emergency Services and Mondays and Fridays on the Secure Inpatient Mental Health Unit.???????

Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 55905-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized