Career Center

Summary

The incumbent serves as an RCS Vet Center Readjustment Counselor - providing counseling services - outreach - referral - and follow up care coordination to eligible individuals - couples - and family members. In this capacity - the incumbent functions as a member of a small multi-disciplinary team of 4 or more staff members. This entails the incumbent contributing proactively to internal coordination of care and collaborative planning and problem solving among all staff.

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 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
• 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
• 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: GS-9 Social Worker - Experience - Education and Licensure: None beyond the basic requirements
• Demonstrated Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities (KSAs): In addition - the candidates must demonstrate the following KSAs: Ability to work with Veterans and family members from various socioeconomic - cultural - ethnic - educational - and other diversified backgrounds utilizing counseling skills
• Ability to assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members - and to formulate and implement a treatment plan - identifying the Veterans problems - strengths - weaknesses - coping skills - and assistance needed
• Ability to implement treatment modalities in working with individuals - families - and groups to achieve treatment goals
• This requires judgment and skill in utilizing supportive - problem solving - or crisis intervention techniques
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communicate with clients - staff - and representatives of community agencies
• Fundamental knowledge 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 GS-11 Social Worker - Experience and Licensure: Appointment to the GS-11 grade level requires completion of 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
• ~OR~ Education and Licensure:
• In addition to meeting basic requirements - 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 licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level
• ~AND~ Demonstrated Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities (KSAs): In addition - the candidates must demonstrate 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 - 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
• Preferred Experience: Working with combat Veterans in providing family counseling services
• Working with Veterans who were sexually traumatized/harassed while in the military
• Conducting psycho-social assessments and the provision of processing psychotherapy for trauma related conditions
• Implement treatment plans for combat Veterans/and their families
• 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-11
• The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-9 to GS-11
• Physical Requirements: The work does not inherently include physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with a workplace accommodation.

Duties

• Salary by location: Ventura: GS-9: $78 -308- $101-798
• GS-11: $94 -745- $123 -162 Temecula: GS-9: $71 -244-$92 -615
• GS-11: $86 -199-$112 -053 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 Duties include - but are not limited to: Screening and Assessment: Will work directly with eligible individuals to establish a therapeutic relationship sufficient for completing all required readjustment counseling intake procedures to include an assessment of risk for self-harm and psychosocial functioning
• This information will be used as the foundation for identifying the presenting clinical focus areas and for developing the readjustment counseling service plan
• Counseling Planning/Goal Setting: Develop and periodically update an individualized readjustment counseling service plan that reflects a course of therapeutic and psychosocial interventions - including identification of achievable goals and measurable outcomes
• Direct Counseling Service Provision: Will implement the individualized counseling plan through an appropriate course of individual - group - couple and/or family readjustment counseling
• Will maintain an effective therapeutic relationship with eligible clients fully guided by professional ethics throughout the course of readjustment counseling
• Risk Assessment and Crisis Intervention: Will apply risk assessment procedures during the initial assessment and periodically throughout the planned course of readjustment counseling as required and appropriate
• For individuals identified from intermediate to high risk - the incumbent will work with the individual to develop a safety plan that identifies the precipitating life stressors and safety procedures identified by the client
• Will provide crisis case management services inclusive of coordinating services with the individual's family members
• Care Coordination: Will establish and maintain a network of community care relationships - internal and external to VA - to coordinate access to readjustment counseling through community referrals to the Vet Center - and to ensure that eligible individuals and/or family members receive the full spectrum of services to support the veteran's readjustment that are outside the scope of readjustment counseling
• In support of client care coordination - the incumbent maintains a general knowledge and understanding of the military experience and available VA benefits and services such as VA health care and VBA service-connected benefits
• Outreach: Will maintain active coordination with Vet Center outreach workers to ensure seamless referral to Vet Center services for those individuals and family members engaged in the community at outreach events that may require follow-up readjustment counseling
• Team Cohesion and Coordination: Will actively participate in Vet Center staff meetings designed to promote team building and staff development through co-joint planning and problem solving - staff discussion of problematic cases - coaching and mentoring new hires
• Documentation/Consultation: Will document all clinical interactions with eligible individuals and episodes of care coordination on their behalf as required by RCS policy
• Will provide consultation services to other staff inclusive of other community partners
• Other duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm
• Monday - Friday - standard operational hours with occasional evenings based on operational need of the facility Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): 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) 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: Not available Virtual: Not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 150660 - 150670 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized