The Senior Social Worker provides clinical psychosocial services at an advanced practice level to eligible veterans and their family members. Psychosocial problems and needs are complex and require collaboration and the ability to practice independently regardless of location. The Social Worker is a leading force for the complete care of Veterans and is required to interface as necessary with the patient, significant others, community agencies, and other staff.

Duties

General duties include, but are not limited to the following: CLINICAL FUNCTIONS (70%) Assessment and referral services; design and preparation of diagnostic assessments; providing entry-level services for Veterans of all service eras; formulating and providing individual and group treatments; preparing initial and updated treatment plans; crisis management; case management; and planning for follow-up care after completion of treatment. The incumbent provides ethical individual, group and family mental health services to eligible combat and non-combat Veterans experiencing mental health symptoms. Adheres to Trauma Informed Care principles assuming the existence of a trauma history along with resilience. Participates in Measurement Based Care. May participate in Tele-mental-health or similar activities in order to provide service for Veterans who are located a prohibitive distance from VA facilities. For all clinical duties, the incumbent works in the Outpatient Division of the Mental Health Careline (MHCL). They participate in interdisciplinary team meetings for Veterans enrolled in Outpatient Mental Health Services. They interface with other departments and provide consultation services to medical center and CBOC staff on a wide variety of patient care issues, particularly related to identifying mental health concerns and social determinant needs of Veterans from all eras of service. The incumbent conducts evidence-based diagnostic assessment, and/or provides one or more evidence-based psychotherapies. Participation in any mental health training recognized with broad support by a reputable governing board or body of mental health practitioners as efficacious would meet this standard. Gaining certification or specialization in one or more evidence-based therapies is highly encouraged within the first year. Special circumstances will be taken into account. Proper credentialing and licensure will assure the incumbent will operate independently in all areas, consulting with peers and supervisors when warranted. Case Management services can be a part of the job Reference: See VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G39. The basic qualification requirements for individuals appointed under 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 and 74, in occupations identified in sections 7401(1) and 7401(3), are contained in VA Qualification Standards approved by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs upon recommendations of the Under Secretary for Health. Required English Language Proficiency. Ability to communicate in spoken and written English with patients and other health care personnel with sufficient fluency to satisfactorily carry out assigned responsibilities. assignment as needed. ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS (30%) The BHIP team lead Senior Social Worker has the following administrative responsibilities: a. Coordinates same day access for Veterans established within the BHIP Team. b. Works with the BHIP Team in the accomplishment of routine Team and unit activities. c. Conducts BHIP team huddles/meetings d. Actively participates in the team panel management and identifies stable patients to be referred back (discharge) to the PACT teams. e. Reviews DSS reports frequently as needed to identify patients needing biopsychosocial assessments/assessment updates, treatment plans and treatment plan updates. f. Collaborates with the team RN or LPN in keeping track of secure messaging from Veterans. g. Completes customer services tasks such as patient advocate entries and other formal and informal complaints. h. Functions as a case manager for Veterans in the BHIP team with multiple missed opportunities, including "no-shows", to determine the best method to manage the patients' patterns of repetitive cancellations and no-shows. i. Conducts chart audits/reviews at required intervals to monitor fidelity to BHIP model of care and optimum panel management. j. Assumes responsibility and accountability as delegated in the BHIP Team and the MHC, under the direct or indirect supervision of the Clinic Coordinator. Other duties as assigned. VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: May be available for a highly qualified applicant. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Title/Functional Statement #:Senior Social Worker/PD9159767 Senior Social Worker RECRUITMENT INCENTIVE Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/17/2023 BASIC REQUIREMENTS. Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g 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 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/. NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection. If they choose to return at a later date to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker. 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. licensed or certified at the time of appointment must become licensed or certified at the independent, master's level within three years of their appointment as a Senior Social Worker, GS-12 (1) Experience and 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. (3) 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, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area. (4) 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. Social Worker (Program Coordinator), GS-12 References: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix 39, Social Worker Job Qualification Standard. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. The work is sometimes sedentary. Typically, the employee will sit to perform administrative work. However, other position duties include physical requirements which include but not limited to, long periods of walking; standing; bending; crouching, reaching and lifting of a variety of moderately heavy items, carrying of light items such as papers, books, small parts; or driving an automobile, etc. No special physical demands are required to perform the work.

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 Chillicothe VA Medical Center 17273 State Route 104 Chillicothe, OH 45601 US
• Name: Nicole Huyghe
• Phone: 989-392-9239
• Email: [email protected]