Job opening: Senior Social Worker (HUD-VASH)
Salary: $120 378 - 156 492 per year
Published at: Aug 02 2023
Employment Type: Full-time
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. 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.
Duties
Work Schedule: Varying tour of duty
Telework: Available - Ad-hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 00201F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Contact
[email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
This Senior Case Manager has experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. At least two years should be in an area of specialized practice in the Senior Social Worker's professional discipline. The Senior Social Worker is licensed or certified by a state area of specialized professional practice. The Senior Social Worker is licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advance practice level. The Senior Case Manager 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.
The, Senior Case Manager can be further differentiated from the independent practice case manager by The Senior Social Worker ability to expand clinical knowledge in the profession, provide consultation and guidance to colleagues, role model effective professional practice skills, teach or provide orientation, to less experienced case managers, develop innovations in practice interventions, and provide clinical supervision for social work licensure or certification.
HUD-VASH is an intensive case management program for chronically homeless Veterans aimed at providing psychosocial services to Veterans while residing in stable housing through HUD's Section 8 voucher system.
The Senior Social Worker in this position functions as the Senior Case Manager for VA NCHCS's Housing and Urban Development - VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH). The HUD-VASH Program falls within the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Programs of the Social Work Service.
Duties of the position include, but are not limited to:
Responsible for reviewing agreements between Section 8, landlords, Public Housing Authorities, and the VA in establishing appropriate referral sites for HUD-VASH placements.
Performs site visits of HUD-VASH apartments to ensure that Veterans reside in safe environments in compliance with local housing codes.
Verifies the Veteran's status, eligibility for VA medical care, and eligibility of program participation.
Responsible for ensuring that homeless Veterans are considered as primary participants for program acceptance.
Responsible for collecting and submitting HUD-VASH Program participant data as outlined by NEPEC evaluation procedures.
Responsible for providing HUD-VASH case management. Case management is defined as the provision of services by VA clinical staff to homeless Veterans and includes all activities to provide appropriate treatment and maintain Veterans in HUD approved stable housing.
Coordinates care including serving as an advocate on behalf of the Veterans to ensure comprehensive service delivery and linking and referring Veterans to the VA Medical Center, VA Regional Offices and/or community agencies.
Complies with criminal conflict of interest laws and Executive Branch Standards of conduct to avoid conflicts of interest.
Actively participates in the HUD-VASH Program conference calls and attends training offered by the HUD-VASH.
Responsible for following local policy and SOP for the HUD-VASH Program. This includes following policies and documentation requirements as required for CARF and Joint Commission accreditation.
Actively participates in program planning and development, advising the supervisor of shifting trends with caseloads and identifying the need for and making recommendations on program procedure or policy changes based upon work experiences.
Takes responsibility for improving professional skills, participating in planning and executing specific staff development projects, attending seminars and institutes, and participating in training programs of other disciplines as requested.
Document all contacts with patients/families in the medical charts and completes statistical and other reports in accordance with VA Medical Center and respective professional discipline service policies.
Works with VA Medical Center multi-disciplinary teams and community agencies to strive for developing more effective and efficient ways of delivering healthcare services to HUD-VASH Program Veterans.
Conduct psychosocial assessments to determine needs of Veterans and family members.
Must have and maintain a valid unrestricted driver's license.
Other duties as assigned by management.
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 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/.
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 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). Grandfathering Provision: The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title 38 hybrid qualification standards. Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation.
All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply:
Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.
If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.
NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS-0185 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.
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, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
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.
Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
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.
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.
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.
References: VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G39
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: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 Employee Occupational Health Service
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 VA Northern California Health Care System
10535 Hospital Way
Mather, CA 95655
US
- Name: Roger Brown
- Phone: (415)221-4810 X24484
- Email: [email protected]
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