Senior Social Worker

Full Job Description

The Senior Social Worker serves as a case manager within Social Work Service located at the VA San Diego Healthcare System .

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 http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.

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: Senior Social Worker 0185, GS-12 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.

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, Preferred Experience: Best qualified candidate will have two years of experience in the specialized area of medical/psychiatric social work.

References: VA Handbook 5005/120, PART II, APPENDIX G39 dated September 10, 2019 This position is above the Full Performance Level for this series.

The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: This work is primarily sedentary but also requires some standing, walking, bending, lifting and carrying of items.

Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Major Duties:

Major Duties for several different positions: Work to provide discharge options to hospitalized Veterans with challenging medical, mental health, and psychosocial challenges.

Complete documentation and follow-up needed promptly to ensure a timely discharge as possible.

Incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.

Provide a variety of psychosocial services to Veterans in the inpatient setting like housing, benefit, and community resources.

Provide supportive counseling, education, and appropriate case management services to reduce the Veteran's stress throughout all phases of diagnosis, treatment, discharge, and ongoing care.

Provide advanced level case management interventions used in the treatment of veterans with serious medical and psychiatric disorders.

Provide services that access the continuum of care from outpatient, inpatient, independent and institutional settings.

Meets with Veterans and their caregivers both in-person and via telephone to collaborate on treatment plans.

Develop and implement methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Design changes based on empirical findings.

Offer consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in specialty areas, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills.

Teach and mentor staff and students in the special area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications. The Senior Social Worker performs other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:00am - 3:30pm Telework: Partial Telework Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required