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. Assignment may include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision. The social worker will work with Veterans with high acuity and complexity of problems; they will conduct psychosocial assessments and provide case management.

Duties

Duties to include but not limited to: Conduct psychosocial assessments and make psychosocial diagnoses. - Conduct mental health assessments and provide psychotherapy for the amelioration of mental health conditions. - Develop psychosocial treatment plans with attention to age specific needs/concerns. - Provide psychosocial interventions for individuals, groups and families. - Utilize standardized instruments in the assessment of mental health conditions. - Provide individual and group counseling. - Provide marital and family counseling. - Develop information and referral resources and services. - Develop community linkages and coordinate the clinical application of community services. - Provide admission and discharge planning services. - Provide care management and coordination services. - Document in computerized medical record. - Provide Veteran advocacy/Veteran rights services. - Provide psychosocial crisis intervention services, with adherence to High Risk protocol. - Provide Veteran and family education services. - Screen for substance abuse, tobacco use, depression, suicide risk, post- - traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), domestic violence/interpersonal violence, complete risk assessments, and provide treatment services. - Screen for homelessness in Veterans and address housing needs. - Provide education on advanced care planning, including assistance with advance directive documents. - Complete any additional screenings, as required. - Place and complete consults. - Conduct comprehensive psychosocial assessments and formulate psychosocial diagnoses utilizing a differential diagnostic scale. - Conduct mental health assessment and make DSM diagnoses. - Provide consultation to colleagues; render professional opinions based on experience and expertise. - Develop new models of psychosocial assessment or intervention and incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment. - Utilize outcome evaluations to further treatment and design system changes Teach and mentor staff and students in the specialty area of practice to provide supervision for licensure of for specialty certifications, to include but not limited to in-service education & continuing education presentations. - Provide subject matter consultation to care line managers, colleagues and students on Social Work qualification standards, practice standards, competency, productivity and continuing education. - Provide clinical supervision to those seeking advanced licensure based upon state regulations. - Pursue eligibility for academic appointment with VA academic affiliates Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Telework: Ad Hoc Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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. 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 the CSWE website to verify if that social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a master of social work. Social Worker, GS-12(1) Education and Experience. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience.. (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, 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. (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. 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). Grade Determinations: GS-12: 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 References: Handbook 5005, Part II Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard GS-185 Veterans Health Administration. Physical Requirements: The applicant must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the applicant or others.

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 Atlanta VA Medical Center 1670 Clairmont Road Decatur, GA 30033 US
• Name: Christie Lowery
• Phone: 205-554-2000
• Email: [email protected]