Incumbent serves as a Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (RRTP) Senior Social Worker (SW). A Senior Social Worker has a Master's Degree in Social Work granted by a graduate program fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) and also has an active clinical license at the Advance Practice level. A Senior Social Worker has advanced skills for working with veterans who experience chronic homelessness, substance abuse problems and persistent mental illness.
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. Basic Requirements: United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Education. 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. Licensure. 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 SW Licensure Summary by State. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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). Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Senior Social Worker, GS-12 (1) 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. (2) 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 (3) 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. 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 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. Preferred Experience: Reviewing all consults/referrals for Veterans requesting mental health services, and providing specialized services for complex patients with service delivery to include intake evaluation, diagnostic assessments, psychotherapy and patient education. 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 Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.
VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU FUNCTIONS OF ASSIGNED DUTIES, BUT NOT LIMITED TO: Screening/Assessment: Independently engages in information gathering, problem identification, diagnosis, treatment planning, implementation, evaluation and follow-up. Fully utilizes the current DSM in making diagnoses and formulation of treatment goals and application of appropriate clinical intervention using professional counseling practices. Makes professional evaluations, decisions, and recommendation for treatment planning and implementation. Treatment Planning/Interventions: Independently utilizes a wide variety of individual, group, or family therapeutic interventions. Treatment approaches include but are not limited to cognitive-behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment therapy, motivational interviewing, motivational enhancement therapy. Establishes goals/treatment through a collaborative process with the patient utilizing advanced counseling skills, including evidenced-based practices. Provides complex crisis intervention and stabilization to patients who are in psychological distress. Independently conducts biopsychosocial assessments. Develops treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team. Incumbent possesses the skills to offer psychosocial interventions and measures outcomes to interventions. Requires a high-level understanding of treatment coordination and discharge planning, working within the VA system to assist Veteran in re-engaging in their community of choice upon discharge. Provides ongoing case management services from admission until discharge coordinating closely with the entire treatment team. Incumbent is able to coordinate community-based services, including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, other government programs and community agency programs. Develops, implements, and documents the psychotherapeutic recovery plan for an assigned caseload of patients, including prompt completion of clinical reminders. Provides treatment coordination services to a caseload of Residential Veterans. Meets individually with Veterans on assigned caseload a minimum of once every other week. Performs clinical administrative duties including scheduling of Veterans, returning Veterans' phone calls and secure messages, writing reports, and attending organizational meetings. Participates as part of a multidisciplinary team to provide comprehensive mental health, substance use and psychosocial treatments to Veterans within the RRTP program. Actively participates in treatment planning as well as discharge planning with the entire treatment team. The incumbent completes suicide and homicide risk screens and documents these assessments as required by policy. The Senior Social Worker completes comprehensive assessments and collaborative safety plans when clinically indicated. Provides appropriate clinical follow up in consultation with the multidisciplinary team for managing high risk Veterans within the RRTP program needed to ensure the safety and welfare all Veterans. Remains up-to-date on suicide prevention training materials and clinical tools, and utilizes as appropriate in clinical practice Independently identifies high-risk patients and provides care and treatment planning. Provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members. Has working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology. Possesses knowledge and understanding of existing relevant statutes, case laws, ethical codes, and regulations affecting professional practice of counseling. Communicates effectively, both orally and in writing, with people from varied backgrounds. Demonstrates positive communication skills and behaviors that promote cooperation and teamwork with internal and external customers. He or she collaborates with other disciplines and caregivers, using group processes for decision making in interdisciplinary problem solving. Performs collateral duties as assigned. Provides clinical supervision and instruction for Social Workers toward licensure and MSW interns. Assists in the ongoing improvement of Social Work professional practice through actively participating in Social Worker Training meetings and committees as needed. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm Compressed Work Schedule: Possible, following probationary period Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 00000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized