Senior Social Worker-Clinical Resource Hub

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.

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 dependently practice social work at the master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.

04Grade Determinations

Senior Social Worker GS-12 Experience/Education. The candidate must have at least two years of experience 9 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, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) 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. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) 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. (d) 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. (e) 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. (4) Assignments.

For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level.

Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity.

The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for 10 clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics.

The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff.

They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management.

This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. 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).

05Preferred Experience

Extensive evidence-based psychotherapy training and experience. Preferred experience with Federal EHR (Oracle Health/Cerner), and telehealth modalities. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Integrated Telehealth Care Provides telehealth integrated mental health services to multiple Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 5 facilities using the Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) model, as part of an interprofessional primary care team.

Delivers brief (20-30 minute), limited (1-6) behavioral health visits in primary care, supporting medical providers as a routine primary care service. Clinical Care Builds therapeutic relationships and work independently with Veterans and families facing complex medical, psychiatric, behavioral, and psychosocial problems. Completes functional assessments of psychosocial needs to maximize treatment and independence.

Monitors symptoms; treat emergent problems such as non-adherence or side effects; provide decision support and education. Delivers evidence-based brief interventions, psychotherapy, and counseling for depression, anxiety, stress, sleep hygiene, and other concerns, applying knowledge of mental health and substance abuse diagnoses and treatment. Provides crisis intervention; arrange inpatient psychiatric transfer if needed, and follow up.

Care Coordination Collaborates with Veterans, families, Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) members, and interdisciplinary team members on treatment plans. Facilitates discharge planning, including triage to higher-level mental health care or return to primary care; assist with referrals. Serves as liaison to Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) and community resources; provide case management, helping Veterans cope with loss, grief, disability, and terminal illness.

Consultation and Education Educates Veterans and families about community resources, VA benefits, specialty programs, and advance directives. Consults with PACT and staff on psychosocial needs and their impact on care and discharge planning and treatment compliance. Communicates effectively, orally and in writing, with diverse people. Professional Development and Service Pursues continuing education; orient less experienced providers and precept trainees; serve on facility committees.

Quality and Documentation Supports VA, Veterans Health Administration (VHA), VISN, and facility policies; maintain productivity and quality per professional, Joint Commission, and facility standards. Documents in the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) and Electronic Health Record Modernization (EHRM) system.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00AM-4:30PM Compressed/Flexible: May be available Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.

Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience. Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.

Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.

Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: PLEASE NOTE: THIS POSITION IS CURRENTLY ON A MID-TERM EXTENSTION FROM RETURN TO OFFICE REQUIREMENTS.

MID-TERM EXTENSION POSITIONS ARE REVIEWED REGULARLY AND DO NOT CONFER PERMANENT REMOTE WORK STATUS; the selected individual may be required to work on site if space is available, or may need to return to a VA office if required. Any selected candidate must live within 50 miles of a VA Medical Center. Applicants within the VISN 5 catchment area are given priority. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process.