The Senior Social Worker works in the medical specialty clinic areas, including but not limited to, the Cardiology, Eye, Gastrointestinal, and Ortho Surgery clinics. The Social Worker provides services to Veterans being treated for illness or diseases and addressing psychosocial challenges that may be barriers to Veterans adhering to their treatment or procedure schedule.

Duties

Services include provision of high-quality case management, clinical treatment, advocacy, and coordination of linkages to other appropriate VA or community service providers and/or agencies as needed by the client. This is accomplished in collaboration with other members of the interdisciplinary treatment team. Some of the duties include but are not limited to; Has advanced and expert 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 interventions used in the treatment of veterans with medical illness or diseases. Experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans with the interdisciplinary team. Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in medical specialty areas, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Has advanced knowledge of and mastery of theories and modalities used in the specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness. Performs specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness. Incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. Responsible for intensive case management for patients in the medical specialty clinics meeting criteria set-forth for such services. Demonstrates the ability to determine priority for services and provide specialized treatment services. Offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in medical specialty areas, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. Independently conduct comprehensive psychosocial assessments and develop clinically driven treatment plans will be developed with the Veteran's input in order to assist him/her in meeting their needs. Demonstrates the ability to teach and mentor staff and students in the special area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications. Develops and maintains a current, productive network of referral resources to include community providers and with Veteran Service Organizations. May refer Veterans to other organizations and community resources for services not available through the medical center. Will assist Veterans in identifying disability resources, initiating applications, obtaining medical information and follow up paperwork as needed or appropriate. Provides both informal and formal education to staff and community partners on any updates and changes to VA policies. Works collaboratively with physicians, nurses and other disciplines to foster involvement in the care of Veterans with complex medical needs. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: The primary tour of duty will be M-F 8am to 4:30pm. However, the selectee may also be required to work various shifts on a permanent or temporary basis, based on the needs of the service and patient care. Telework: May be available for highly qualified candidates. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: Senior Social Worker, Medical Specialty Care #81760F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/20/2023. 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: Must 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: 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/. (NOTE: For those who have a Florida LCSW license, you must be registered with the state as a "Qualified Supervisor" in order to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certification. All others must meet the requirements of their state of licensure to be able to provide supervision for licensure.) English Language: Must be proficient in spoken and written English 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). 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. Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker, GS-12 Experience: Must have a least two years of specialized 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. Preferred Experience: Those candidates with experience working with specialty services; including surgery, cardiology, and orthopedics are highly preferred. In addition, those with the ability to independently conduct comprehensive psychosocial assessments, diagnostic assessments, and provide case management for patients with highly complex medical needs are also highly preferred. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39 Physical Requirements: The position requires performance of work which involves light physical effort, such as that involved in lifting light files, bending, standing, reaching, operating office equipment such as telephone, copier, fax machine, scanner, etc. The physical demands of the work requires use of fingers; moderate walking and standing; near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in on eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; hearing aid permitted; clear speech; emotional stability; moderate duty.

Education

Must have a master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).

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 Orlando VA Medical Center 13800 Veterans Way Orlando, FL 32827 US
• Name: Christopher Cacciapaglia
• Phone: (407) 432-5810
• Email: [email protected]