The Senior Social Worker is a member of the Mental Health & Behavioral Sciences (MHBS) Service Line of the Northern Arizona VA Healthcare System (NAVAHCS) and is located at the Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery (ICMHR), Kingman, AZ. The ICMHR is a VHA specialized program serving seriously mentally ill Veterans and is provided as part of the mental health continuum of care.

Duties

The primary responsibilities of this position are to provide intensive case management services, continuous quality improvement activities, evaluation/consultation, psychosocial assessments, patient groups, individual supportive therapy, placement services, and referrals to various community agencies and hospital services for Veterans served by ICMHR. The major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to: Provides intensive case management services to assigned Veterans and significant others, consistent with the goals and methods of ICMHR and the VA Mental Health Initiative and with all relevant Medical Center policies and procedures. Develops a psychosocial assessment of the Veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the Veteran, family members, and significant others. Contributes to the development of the person-centered recovery plan/treatment plan and setting achievable treatment goals with the Veteran and family members/caregiver and other clinical ICMHR staff. Serves as the subject matter expert on VA and/or community resources throughout the course of treatment. Collaborates with other service providers in reassessing the Veteran's needs and is responsible for educating the Veteran and family members/caregivers of the available services and assisting them in establishing the appropriate referrals based on the Veteran's preference or that of his surrogate decision-maker. Uses the current Social Work resource file of VA and community social service programs and enhancing the content to the benefit of Veterans. Incumbent will refer the Veteran to needed services. Understands the intimidation of bureaucracy and will act as an advocate when it serves the best interest of the Veteran and family members/caregiver. Makes rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for admission to mental health inpatient programs. In the event of a medical or psychiatric emergency, staff will follow the protocols of the Northern Arizona VA Medical Center. Provides education related to VA and community resources, entitlements, Advance Directives/Living Will, and will refer Veterans and family members/caregiver to the appropriate healthcare professional for identified health education needs. Educates the Veteran, their family members/caregiver, and the team of all the options available to them and will collaborate with the Veteran and family members/caregiver on the preferred option. Provides Veterans and their family members/caregiver with ongoing supportive counseling and social skills training. Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Compressed/Flexible:Available after completing at least 90 days of continuous service. Telework: Available on an Ad-Hoc basis, at the discretion of the supervisor Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: PD860114 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

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. [Transcripts, official or unofficial showing conferral date, must be submitted at time of application must] Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed 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. [A copy of current license showing date of issuance and expiration must be submitted with application] 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 for this position. Senior Social Worker, GS-12 Experience/Education. Applicant must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensureand 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: 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. 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: Two or more years of experience within the Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery (ICMHR) or a similar treatment setting such as assertive community treatment (ACT). References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard GS-0185 Veterans Health Administration. Physical Requirements: Involve active listening, reading, observing, and evaluating verbal and nonverbal behavior, walking, speaking, writing reports, writing policies and procedures, writing clinical notes, using office equipment such as computers, telephones, fax machines, photocopy machines and spend at least 80% of your time traveling throughout and into the community to meet with Veterans and caregivers.

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 Bob Stump VA Medical Center 500 Highway 89 North Prescott, AZ 86313 US
• Name: Sharon Fullwood
• Phone: (562) 826-5157
• Email: [email protected]