Senior Social Worker (Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery) - EDRP Approved

Full Job Description

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program.

You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment.

Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

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/. Physical Requirements.

See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services 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 (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).

Please see the Additional Information Section of this announcement for details. Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker, 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.

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.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.

In addition to the experience above, the candidate 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: Experience with crisis intervention and risk management Experience working with interdisciplinary teams Experience with evidence based therapies Experience working with veteran population Reference can be found at the VA Qualification Repository, VA Qualifications Standards - Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) GS-0185, Social Worker Qualification Standard, dated 9/10/2019.

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.

Physical Requirements: A pre-placement examination will be required to be able to determine if the incumbent is able to safely operate a government vehicle.

The following requirements must be met: distant vision 20/40 in one eye with or without correction, field of vision 70 degrees, ability to distinguish red, green and amber, whispered voice at five feet, or average hearing loss of not greater than 40 dbs.

at 500, 1000 and 2,000 Hz. Major Duties:

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional This Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery Senior Social Worker provides complex clinical services to Veterans with serious psychological problems on a regular and continuing basis, including but not limited to: substance abuse issues, co-occurring disorders, suicide prevention, crisis intervention, short and long term treatment, emergency location of food and shelter, legal and employment resources, structured placement, financial matters, socialization and any other problems encountered in daily living.

The Senior Social Worker achieves program goals through frequent home visits, provides medication monitoring, crisis/stress management, as well as develops linkages to community resources.

The Senior Social Worker is required to use a Government Vehicle to make all home visit to Veterans and may at times transport Veterans to their appointment.

The Senior Social Worker works with Veterans that have a severe and persistent mental illness such as Schizophrenia; Bipolar Disorder; or Major Affective Disorder and they have been hospitalized at least 30 days during the past twelve months and live within 60 minutes of El Paso VAHCS.

The Senior Social Worker provides veterans and their family members with community outreach, counseling, therapy, treatment and direct services and referral to VA and community resources.

The Senior Social Worker utilizes a variety of psychological, rehabilitation, social work, counseling and mental health techniques including but not limited to individual, group, vocational and educational counseling, substance abuse resources and referrals, and readjustment counseling.

The Senior Social Worker exercises independent judgment and decision making in the formulation of the treatment/recovery plans.

This treatment/recovery plan will then be presented and discussed with the treatment team.

Additional responsibilities include an ongoing assessment of the Veteran's progress and treatment, as well as developing discharge plans.

Provides outreach services to clients and engages in community networking which may include coordination with lawyers, board and care home operators, physicians, clergymen, and representatives of other disciplines who are concerned with the same clients or group of clients.

This Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery Senior Social Worker performs administrative functions such as actively participating in clinic meetings; maintains accurate records of his/her clinical interactions; and collaborates with other team members and with professionals, paraprofessionals, volunteers, and others in VA facilities and community agencies to help veterans recognize and resolve their problems and needs.

May provide training experiences for graduate social work trainees; may make community visits needed to effectively perform his/her responsibilities, may participate in research and pilot studies, and will maintain an active participation in the Social Work Service including belonging to a committee upon approval of ICMHR Supervisor.

Work Schedule: Fulltime, Monday thru Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized EDRP Authorized: Contact vhaedrpprogramsupport@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance.

Learn more Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases.

When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of existing pay, 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: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: Senior Social Worker (ICMHR) Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorize