The Incumbent will provide professional coordination services and Neurobehavioral Therapy (NBT) to Veterans through the Neurology/Epilepsy Service at the Birmingham VA Healthcare System. This person is responsible for providing a wide array of coordination services, counseling, and seizure management.

Duties

The incumbent will serve as an Epilepsy Program Coordinator in the Neurology Service. The incumbent must be able to independently assess and treat complex psychosocial problems of veterans with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures and epilepsy. The incumbent will be formally trained in NBT which is a manual-based, time limited, 12 week treatment program that has been shown to significantly reduce seizure frequency and improve the quality of life in veterans who suffer from PNES and epileptic seizures. This treatment program contains aspects of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing, and mindfulness; therefore, the incumbent must have experience and training in counseling and/or CBT. The incumbent will complete formal assessments of veterans entering the NBT treatment. These assessments will allow for understanding of the presence of other psychological comorbidities, quality of life, cognition, and other associated symptoms (such as headache). These clinical data are being collected under an IRB-approved research protocol, and the incumbent will be responsible for consenting patients and maintaining data in the RedCap database. Referrals to the NBT program typically originate from Neurology Service providers and the epilepsy monitoring unit (EMU), but could also originate from Primary Care or Mental Health clinics. The incumbent will assist in advertisement/expansion of the NBT program to other VAs in the region. This will include preparation of formal advertisement materials and participating in meetings with other VAs to increase the referral pool. Further, the incumbent will participate in a national pool of NBT providers through the Epilepsy Centers of Excellence Mind Brain Program, which takes national referrals for NBT through telehealth/VVC. The incumbent will provide coordination of care for epilepsy and PNES patients referred to the epilepsy monitoring unit. This will include providing instructions to the patient and family on the EMU admissions process and coordinating the continuity of care between the clinic and the EMU. The incumbent performs the following functions though not limited to: Offers a high degree of continuity of care through coordinating EMU admissions and discharge planning and ensures proper follow up in Neurology Clinics and/or NBT clinic. Calls patients referred to EMU to provide a detailed explanation of what to expect during admission. Assists with the acquisition of clinical data pertinent to the patient, including outside facilities Provides veterans with a schedule for NBT appointments. Performs a comprehensive assessment on patients referred to NBT clinic for psychosocial comorbidities and performs a detailed intake for all patients enrolled in NBT. The same intake questionnaires will be administered at the completion of the program. Participates in a weekly NBT program team meeting. Consents patients for IRB-approved research protocol investigating clinical outcomes of NBT at the Birmingham VA Medical Center. Collects and enters data onto RedCap database for outcomes research study (as above). Provides telehealth, phone, or VVC services to Community Based Outpatient Clinics and home. Functions as an independent clinician and provides a full range of services to patients including assessments, coordination of care, and will independently administer NBT. Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: 8:00 am - 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday Telework: Ad-Hoc Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 54081F 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 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 (MSW) 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. Please note: A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work. Licensure. Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. English Language Proficiency. Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Regulations. 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). Must pass a background check. Grade Requirements: GS-12 Senior Social Worker 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. 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. License. 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: 1. 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. 2. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. 3. 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. 4. 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. 5. 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 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is a GS-12. Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor. The work is primarily sedentary. There is some walking, standing, bending, and carrying of light items such as papers, files, manuals and records. For additional information on Physical Standards please see VA Directive and Handbook 5019. http://www.va.gov/vapubs/

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 Birmingham VA Medical Center 700 South 19th Street Birmingham, AL 35233 US
• Name: Jenna McCarthy
• Email: [email protected]