The Senior Social Worker provides clinical psychological assessment and treatment at an advanced practice level to eligible Veterans and their family members to meet biological, psychological, social and environmental needs. The Senior Social Worker is responsible for providing mental health, substance abuse treatment and psychosocial intervention to address a broad range of medical and mental health issues.

Duties

The Senior Social Worker provides clinical psychological assessment and treatment at an advanced practice level to eligible Veterans and their family members to meet biological, psychological, social and environmental needs. Their health care and psychosocial needs are complex and require a high degree of clinical oversight and creative problem solving. The duties of the Senior Social Worker-Substance Use Disorder Treatment include, but are not limited to: Performs assessments and provides clinical treatment of veterans in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team. Incumbent incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges Diagnoses mental disorders, conducts psychosocial assessments, provides specialized treatment services through a variety of modalities and provides adjunctive interventions for treatment of medical disorders. Develops treatment plans in collaboration with the veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team. The treatment plan will be reviewed during therapeutic sessions and reassessed as appropriate. Identifies high-risk patients and provides crisis intervention services and measures outcomes to interventions by completing the Suicide Risk Assessment shared template in the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) on all patients with suicidal ideation and on any patient whose record is flagged "High Risk for Suicide". Makes rapid assessments and develops crisis management plans for admission to mental health/substance abuse and/or medical inpatient programs. Interprets and explains VA treatment and benefit programs. Establishes and maintains effective therapeutic relationships with veterans and their families. Places, receives and completes consults and orders to/from interdisciplinary teams and other Social Workers on complex difficult cases using advance practice skills and expertise. Provides training to Social Work interns, residents and staff from other disciplines. Works with patients and families who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical and social problems utilizing individual, group and family counseling and therapy skills. Completes other duties assigned. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm (subject to changed based on the needs of the agency) Compressed/Flexible:Not Authorized Telework: Eligible Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 00293-F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens). 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 tohttp://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the 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-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. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). GRADE DETERMINATIONS. In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates: (1) 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. (2) 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, candidates must demonstrate, within their resume, 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. Preferred Experience: If licensed in Louisiana Preferred LCSW-BACS References: VA Handbook 5005/120 Part II, Appendix G39, September 10, 2019. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor and are generally sedentary in nature but requires daily car travel. Physical activity involves sitting, standing, walking, bending, stooping, climbing stairs, and carrying light items such as papers, books or other supplies. The incumbent uses a computer and standard office equipment to complete tasks. The emotional demands can be stressful in working with the Veteran/Patient population and their families/caregivers. A level of self-awareness is essential.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address New Orleans VA Medical Center 2400 Canal Street New Orleans, LA 70119 US
• Name: Ambera Oyoo
• Phone: 317-435-2270
• Email: [email protected]