Summary

The Senior Social Worker is assigned to the outpatient mental health clinic under social work supervisor. The Senior Social Worker is a member of a interdisciplinary team model and provides clinical social work services in outpatient mental health clinic setting. The incumbent plays an active role on this team which meets weekly to review and discuss clinical cases. The incumbent is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns.

Qualifications

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
• English Language Proficiency: Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j, this part
• 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 the CSWE website to verify if that social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a master of social work
• Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-185 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 on the OHRM website
• Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker, GS-12: Experience and 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
• Applicants must meet the requirements for providing supervision in the state where they are licensed at the advanced practice level and should list these qualifications within the assessment narrative and their resume
• Documentation is required if part of your state's requirements for providing supervision for licensure is beyond your licensure only (example: certification of continuing education credits)
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs (submission of a document with written demonstration of KSAs is highly recommended with application)
• 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
• All qualifying experience you possess must be clearly described in your application package
• We will not make assumptions when reviewing applications
• Failure to demonstrate your experience in your resume may result in disqualification
• It is strongly recommended that you write to each KSA in your application package
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12
• The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position
• Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

Duties

• Major duties include but are not limited to the following: The incumbent participates in the respective assigned interdisciplinary BHIP team and focused on timely access to mental health services and collaboration with other services within the VA in order to provide Veteran-centric treatment
• The BHIP team includes, but is not limited to, Psychiatrists, Social Workers, Psychologists, Licensed Mental Health Therapists, Advanced Medical Support Assistants, Pharmacists, Nurse Case Managers
• Incumbent provides clinical and administrative consultation to BHIP team members, VA health care providers and VA medical facility-based committees regarding BHIP clinics
• Uses advanced clinical training, insight, and experience to interpret data and to identify viable treatment options
• Maintains open access availability to support timely determination of ideal levels and settings for service engagement and utilization based on set protocols and processes
• Assesses high risk factors
• including suicidal and, homicidal ideation, as well as, acute needs for VHA or community-based services
• Completes clinical and psychosocial assessments and screenings identifying the Veterans' needs, strengths, abilities and preferences
• Provides triage support including notification and assignment to team members either for same day or scheduled appointments
• Provides crisis intervention in collaboration with the multidisciplinary treatment team, for Veterans who are experiencing social or mental health crises
• Provides cross-coverage for BHIP Care Coordinators at other BHIP locations, as needed
• 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 Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (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)
• 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: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 000000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized SLRP: This occupational series is eligible for the Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP)
• Repayment is limited to $10,000 annually, up to $60,000 in lifetime awards
• Participants must sign a service agreement and maintain an acceptable level of performance to remain eligible for this program.