The Social Service Assistant position in under the Mental Health Service, Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (RRTP) at the Tomah, Wisconsin VA Medical Center. This position focuses on Veterans in Domiciliary Care for Homeless Veterans (DCHV). The primary purpose of this position is to provide 24/7 assistance to Veterans. This position provides transportation or arranges for transportation of Veterans to community resources.

Duties

Accompanies veterans to community resources as needed. These excursions might include, but are not limited to driving off-station, visiting new housing in the community with veteran(s), driving veteran(s) who are trying to access various state or federal benefit programs. The incumbent is driving a government vehicle and he/she must have a valid driver's license. When transporting veterans or driving a government vehicle, he/she must safely operate the vehicle over federal, state, and county roads and city streets, determine routes, have knowledge of safety rules and regulations and complete necessary training that allows him/her to drive a government issued vehicle. Duties include: -Assists Veterans with the use of computers to search for housing and employment. -Carries out various activities related to housing and employment search, daily living, health promotion, and household management. -Assists the multi-disciplinary mental health inpatient treatment team in advancing the patients' progress via the established treatment plan. -Observes behaviors that might indicate difficulty adapting to treatment plan and reports concerns to treatment or recovery team in a timely manner. -Serves as an advocate for the Veteran through an awareness of patient problems and needs while in the program. -Incumbent monitors residential activity on different shifts and might need to handle crisis interventions for program patients. -Ensures the safety and security of Veterans in the program through monitoring and reinforcing the rules and regulations of the RRTP. -Encourages patient to maintain self-care and promotes sense of worth and dignity for patients. -Assists nursing staff when nursing staff is collecting urine drug screens and performing breathalyzers. -Assists Veterans in obtaining medication refills and renewals. -Greets and receives patients, answers routine in person or telephone inquiries. -Performs clerical duties related to patient care and treatment. -Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Full Time, 7:30am to 4:00pm with rotating weekends. Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Social Services Assistant/PD18222A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, facility applicants must meet all requirements within 15 days of the closing dates of this announcement. Non-facility applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 08/25/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-5. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Basic - Individual Occupational Requirement: Specialized Experience - Positions at the GS-4 grade level and above: Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: A. Group leader in community or residential recreation or training programs. B. Counselor in a youth summer camp. C. Instructor in a training program for the development of job skills. D. Work that demonstrated the ability to be responsible for and to lead and train members of a job crew. E. Group activities leader in the Armed Services. F. Unit leader-monitor-proctor for a dormitory group in a boarding school or other residential facility. G. Aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff in such fields as personnel (private or government), employment guidance in a vocational or academic institution, social service, or manpower development. H. Aid or assist to professional or associate staff engaged in work of a social services nature in private, public welfare, government program, or community organizations, or in voluntary activities. I. Aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff working with individuals who are addicted to or abuse alcohol and/or drugs. OR Education GS-4 grade level: Successful completion of 2 years of study that (a) included at least 12 semester hours of subjects directly related to the work of the position or (b) was supplemented by experience in activities that afforded the opportunity to acquire and demonstrate the skills required by the position. The supplementary experience may have been gained for example, in part-time or summer employment, in volunteer social welfare or recreation programs, or in community organizations. Transcripts Required. In addition to the basic requirement as stated above the following is the specialized experience to qualify for this position at the GS-6 grade level. Specialized Experience: One (1) full year of specialized experience that equipped the applicant with the particular knowledge, skill, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of the Social Services Assistant, GS-6 position, and that is in or related to the work of the position to be filled. To be creditable, this experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-5 level in the Federal service to qualify at the Grade-6. Examples of specialized experience include (but are not limited to): Knowledge of basic clinical skills associated with the principles of counseling and recognition of psychosocial needs; knowledge of basic medical terminology; skill in instruction and guiding members in performing daily activities and providing practical advice and counseling to individuals on everyday problems; ability to provide referral information on community resources; and skill in communications and interpersonal relations, including the ability to deal with individuals or families in the community and to establish and maintain community contacts. Education is usually not credible above the GS-5 for this position; however, graduate education may be credited in those few instances where the graduate education is directly related to the work of the position. Driver License Requirement: In addition to meeting the specialized experience requirements above, applicants for this position must show possession of a valid state driver's license. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationsInterpersonal SkillsPsychologyVeteran and Customer Focus Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Travel may be required on outreach trips to the community. While a significant amount of the work performed is sedentary in nature, the employee must engage in walking, climbing stairs, bending, lifting, carrying, and assisting patients in entering buildings and automobiles. Work Environment: The assistant will be exposed to infected residents contaminated materials and be required to wear protective clothing in isolation situations or invasive procedures. The incumbent will be exposed to residents who are combative secondary to delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders and required to assist in containing them and preventing harm to the resident, self and other residents. The assistant must be able to intervene in and de-escalating agitated residents. The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations and able to shift priorities based on resident needs and must be trained in preventative management of disruptive behavior. Work is performed both in an office setting and in the community during outreach. May be exposed to a variety of chronic health disorders associated with the population served. Work areas are adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. The position is not suitable for telework. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

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 Tomah VA Medical Center 500 East Veterans Street Tomah, WI 54660 US
• Name: Sara Anderson
• Phone: 6083723971 X61517
• Email: [email protected]