The Tennessee Valley Healthcare Systems (TVHS), Healthcare for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) is recruiting for a full time Senior Social Worker at the Nashville, Campus. The Senior Social Worker is the Coordinated Entry (CE) Specialist for Homeless Programs. This position enables VA homeless programs to fully collaborate with the community, including the Continuum of Care (CoC) and community partners, in the coordinated entry efforts in that community.

Duties

The Senior Social Worker has experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgement in clinical services for homeless Veterans. Specifically, the Senior Social Worker supports the VA Homeless Program by providing continuity of care for homeless Veterans between VHA and community-based programs, as the Veteran transitions from homelessness into programs such as HCHV Contract Residential Housing (CRS), Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Programs (RRTPs), and Grant Per Diem Programs (GPO) as well as directly to permanent housing through the Housing and Urban Development­ Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program, the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF), or other forms of housing in the community. This continuity of care also includes coordination with the local Suicide Prevention Coordinator(s) (SPC) to enhance suicide prevention amongst homeless Veterans encountered through community-based programs. The Senior Social Worker provides leadership in the community by actively participating in the local plans to end Veteran homelessness as well as conducting and leading the coordination of outreach services to homeless Veterans. The Senior Social Worker must be able to develop appropriate professional relationships with community stakeholders, and is responsible for communicating potential CoC policy or protocol changes to local VA leadership where such changes would enhance the VA's ability to coordinate housing and services for homeless Veterans with the CoC or other key partners. The Senior Social Worker will facilitate VA involvement in the CoC's Coordinated Entry System (CES) and will be responsible for helping VA meet federal guidelines on CES, as described by regulations and guidance published by HUD. The Senior Social Worker needs to coordinate their efforts with local planning and support currently provided by VA, HUD, and USICH technical assistance initiatives designed to support local planning and the creation of a CES. This involvement requires that the incumbent is both aware and involved in current CoC plans to meet these federal requirements. The Senior Social Worker will also function as a liaison, participating in case conferencing and other pertinent community meetings, as needed. The Senior Social Worker is the VA liaison for coordinating outreach efforts with local community partners; including ensuring linkages to VA services and the local SPC for those Veterans who are experiencing literal street homelessness and are at high risk for suicide. Duties include but are not limited to: Participate in CoC meetings and planning efforts which may include leadership roles within the CoC group. Provide direct linkage from community services to VHA homeless program services through regular and consistent outreach and communication with community providers. This includes, but is not limited to, direct linkage to VA mental health services for those Veterans who are at high risk for suicide. Participate in case conferencing process within the CoC's coordinated entry system to help inform and facilitate referrals to VA programs such as HUD­ VASH, SSVF, HCHV CRS, and GPO. Participate and contribute to a Coe level resource-and-demand analysis, including periodic review of the gaps to determine inflows/outflows, and make recommendations to VHA homeless program leadership on adjustments to resource allocations within coordinated entry based on this analysis. Provide support to the VA homeless program teams as a functional member of the team, to include participation in outreach activities and subject matter consultation on community involved interventions for homeless Veterans. Serve as a member of a multidisciplinary homeless program treatment team to link treatment team discussions to the community's case conferencing discussions, ensuring continuity of care for Veterans experiencing homelessness in addition to complex physical and mental illnesses, including those at risk for suicide. Provide all necessary assessment functions in the service provision for homeless Veterans, e.g. interviewing, psychosocial histories and assessments to aid in the development of treatment plans as well as case conferencing discussions and planning. Develop partnerships with community agencies with regular contact and communication. Provide appropriate clinical documentation for all contacts with or about Veterans who are engaged through outreach services. Provide clinical services and appropriate clinical documentation for homeless Veterans encountered through the community's coordinated entry system or other service access points. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:30am - 4:00 pm Telework: not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 91079466 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): 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/. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. 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 when determining the grade of candidates. Senior Social Worker, GS-12 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: 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. References: VA Handbook 5005/120 Part II Appendix G39, Dated September 10, 2019. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position involve primarily walking, sitting, talking, driving, use of the telephone, etc. Light lifting, under 15 pounds, Light carrying, under 15 pounds, Hearing (aid permitted).

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 Tennessee Valley HCS - Nashville 1310 24th Avenue South Nashville, TN 37212 US
• Name: Barbara Wortman
• Phone: 2158235800
• Email: [email protected]