Summary

This position is located within the Behavioral Care Line - with primary assignment to Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Treatment Services located at the Batavia Medical Center. The social worker functions as part of an interdisciplinary team - providing comprehensive residential assessment and treatment to patients - as well as clinical consultation and systemic consultation to allied clinicians and administrators.

Qualifications

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 3 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 http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/
• English Language Proficiency
• Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English
• 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)
• Social Worker - GS-11 Licensure Requirement: You MUST be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level
• GS-11 Experience or Education Requirement: In addition to meeting the basic requirements - to qualify for the GS-11 - you must possess a minimum of one year of post-MSW experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the field of health care or other social work-related settings - (VA or non- VA experience) and licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level
• Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to: Working under close supervision in program areas that do not require specialized knowledge or experience
• Identifying behaviors or symptoms of abuse - neglect or exploitation
• providing education on advance directives and advanced care planning
• providing social work case management
• acting as an patient/family member/caregiver advocate with community service providers/agencies
• assessing the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members
• In collaboration with the patient - family - and interdisciplinary treatment teams - identifying strengths - weaknesses - coping skills and psychosocial acuity
• Maintaining a current network of internal and external resources to educate the patient and/or family members/caregivers and assist with appropriate referrals
• OR - a doctoral degree in social work from a school of social work may be substituted for the required one year of professional social work experience in a clinical setting
• AND - Demonstrated Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities
• In addition to the experience above - candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Knowledge of community resources - how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services - and ability to coordinate services
• Skill in independently conducting psychosocial assessments and treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic - cultural - ethnic - educational and other diversified backgrounds
• Knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses - disabilities and treatment procedures (i.e
• acute - chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries - common medications and their effects/side effects - and medical terminology) to formulate a treatment plan
• Skill in independently implementing different treatment modalities in working with individuals - families - and groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric - 7 medical - and social problems to achieve treatment goals
• Ability to provide consultation services to new social workers - social work graduate students - and other staff about the psychosocial needs of patients and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and compliance with treatment
• Assignments
• This is the full performance level
• Social workers at this level are licensed or certified to independently practice social work
• Incumbents are assigned to all program areas - including but not limited to: inpatient or outpatient medicine - surgery - mental health - neurology - rehabilitation medicine - and geriatrics
• Employees provide professional - independent social work services in the assigned area
• Duties include but are not limited to: assessing and documenting identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse - neglect - exploitation and/or intimate partner violence
• use of clinical social work skills and knowledge to maintain Veteran privacy and confidentiality per policies - handbooks or directives
• and acts as an advocate with appropriate VA and community service providers and agencies when it serves the best interest of the Veteran and family members/caregiver
• Incumbent independently assesses the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members - identifying the Veteran's strengths - weaknesses - coping skills - and psychosocial acuity
• In collaboration with the Veteran - family/caregiver - and interdisciplinary treatment team - the social worker facilitates the delivery of health care services
• The social worker identifies family/caregiver stressors - conducts assessment and provides specific interventions
• The incumbent provides case management and care coordination to facilitate appropriate delivery of health care services - incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of Veterans - including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice
• The social worker links the Veteran with services - resources - and opportunities - in order to maximize the Veteran's independence - health - and well-being
• The social worker conducts timely assessment of at-risk Veterans in crisis to identify immediate needs - evaluate risk - and initiate safety plan as appropriate
• The social worker provides interventions independently with Veterans and their families/caregivers who are experiencing a wide range of complicated medical - behavioral health - financial - legal - and psychosocial problems
• They provide a range of interventions and treatment modalities which may include individual - group - and/or family counseling or psychotherapy
• They independently formulate and implement a treatment plan including measurable - achievable goals identifying the Veterans' needs - strengths - weaknesses - coping skills - and psychosocial acuity
• Social workers serve on committees - work groups - and task forces at the facility and VISN level or in the community
• They provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of Veterans offering professional opinions based on experience - expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills
• The social worker establishes and maintains ongoing education programs for Veterans - community agencies - students - and staff - to facilitate understanding of social work interventions specific to the Veteran/Military population
• Preferred Experience: Certification/training in Cognitive Progressing Therapy (CPT) - Prolonged Exposure (PE) - and/or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)
• Seasoned experience in providing clinical individual and group therapy for PTSD of at least 3 years
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf Social Worker - Duties include but are not limited to: Incumbent's work is primarily concerned with the welfare of patients/families with mental illness that might be at considerable risk of personal damage or emotional involvement which would require particular caution to prevent or minimize destructive consequences
• Incumbent is responsible for interviewing to establish facts regarding the situation - its nature - cause - components and impact on the client
• Incumbent interviews patients and families - interprets guidelines and eligibility requirements and completes comprehensive psychosocial history and assessment
• Provides comfort - emotional support and other assistance through empirically based therapeutic interventions
• Incumbent's work would also include making diagnosis of conditions
• this would include the incumbent spending sufficient time learning enough about the patient affected to understand correctly the present and potential consequences to the client
• Incumbent is responsible for insightful assessment of cases involving patients with mental illness - who may react to their situations with impulsive behaviors that may be self-destructive and emotional problems that are associated with health conditions
• Provide individual and group therapy to patients diagnosed with Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) in the outpatient and/or residential treatment setting
• Conducts psychosocial assessments
• develops treatment plans in collaboration with the patient/family and with interdisciplinary treatment team
• Identifies high-risk patients and provides case management services
• Incumbent 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
• Engage in outreach activities as needed to promote awareness of PTSD services
• Incumbent is able to communicate effectively - both orally and in writing - with people from varied backgrounds
• Note: The above is not an exhaustive list of duties and you will be expected to perform additional tasks as necessitated by the supervisor or designee
• Licensed Social Worker at the GS-11 will perform duties Independently
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday - 800am-4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Telework: Not authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 11359F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases
• When setting pay - a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade)
• 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) 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)