The Senior Social Worker is assigned to the outpatient general Mental Health Clinic (MHC) and functions as a member of the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP). The position requires knowledge of recovery principles and evidence-based interventions applicable to the setting.

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU This Senior Social Worker will provide a full range of proactive, integrated, comprehensive outpatient mental health care that is recovery oriented and evidence-based, to include: screening and assessing for psychopathology, cognitive deficits and problematic health behaviors; psychotherapy in individual, couples, and group formats, as well as, time-limited supportive therapy services for Veterans requiring a lower level of care. The incumbent has familiarity with a full range of DSM-5-TR clinical presentations and experience with associated evidence-based psychological interventions for mild, moderate, and severe presentations. The Senior Social Worker will demonstrate knowledge and skill in the delivery of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) as well as some specialized experience with evidence-based care options including, e.g., Unified Protocol (UP), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), Interpersonal Therapy (IPT), Integrative Couple Behavioral Therapy (IBCT), Motivational Interviewing, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), etc. The Senior Social Worker may act as the team leader for their respective BHIP team and provide coverage as needed. The incumbent has knowledge of the psychiatric continuum of care, thorough risk assessment and mental health crisis procedures; demonstrating skill in leading interdisciplinary treatment teams in intervening in patient mental health crises. The Senior Social Worker may work within specialties including, but not limited to women's health, mindfulness focused treatment, intimate partner violence, and trauma focused care, eating disorders. The delivery of these mental health services may be offered in-person or through tele-mental health modalities, such as Clinical Video Teleconferencing (CVT) and VA Video Connect (VVC) to help increase access to mental health care. The Senior Social Worker demonstrates the ability to expand clinical knowledge in the profession, provide consultation and guidance to colleagues, role model effective social work practice, teach or provide orientation and education seminars to mental health professionals, provide clinical supervision to Social Work interns, and develop innovations in practice interventions. As a Senior Social Worker, the incumbent has experience that demonstrates possession of advance practice skills and judgement, and at least two years of experience in an area of specialized social work practice, specifically mental health and substance use disorders. The incumbent possesses specialized knowledge of mental health, evidence based practices, and knowledge related to special populations (PTSD, women veterans, substance use disorders, etc.) The incumbent must be licensed at an advanced practice level. Work Schedule: 0800-1630 Telework: May be available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized 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. 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. 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. Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA 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/. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. ? 7403(f). 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: 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. 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, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) 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. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39

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 Edward Hines Junior Hospital 5000 South 5th Avenue Hines, IL 60141 US
• Name: Vanessa Houliston
• Phone: 725-210-2766
• Email: [email protected]