The Social Science Program Coordinator is responsible for the delivery of Whole Health Coaching and skill development of the local Medical Center's Whole Health Coach program, including provision of care through coaching and promotion and education regarding Whole Health Coaching to Veterans and staff.

Duties

Central Texas Veterans Health Care System is in the process of making a cultural change, shifting from a disease-focused approach to a health and wellbeing approach, in order to implement the Whole Health System of Care. This is a VA-wide initiative to provide a comprehensive and systematic approach to improve healthcare delivery at all stages of Veteran care. This entails moving from an episodic, "siloed" approach to an interdisciplinary, holistic approach, emphasizing self-care in the larger context of well-being. All staff in this facility will be part of this process, shifting the focus from the question, "What's the matter with you?" to the question, "What matters to you, and how can we help you live your best life?" This strategy also involves integrating a full range of conventional approaches with Complementary and Integrative Health (CIH) approaches in order to optimize lifelong health and well-being, as defined by the Veteran, rather than narrowly focusing on disease management. The Social Science Program Coordinator is integral to supporting Whole Health Coaches and Veterans in navigating the Whole Health Journey, specifically through the Pathway, wellbeing, and Whole Health clinical care elements of the Whole Health System, as well as assisting in the collection of whole health qualitative data from Veterans and creation of reports analyzing effectiveness of health coaching. Major Duties include, but are not limited to:

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 10/03/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-07 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-05. For a GS-09 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-07. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Basic Requirements: This occupational series has an Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) which is a basic requirement that must be met in order to qualify for entry into this job series. The Individual Occupational Requirement for the Social Science Program Coordinator position is: Degree: Successful completion of a full 4-year course of study in an accredited college or university leading to a bachelor's or higher degree that included a major field of study or specific course requirements that included at least 24 semester hours of course work in the behavioral or social sciences or in related courses such as sociology, correctional administration, criminal justice, government/political science, psychology, social work, counseling, and other related social or behavioral science. OR Experience: Four years of appropriate experience that demonstrates you have acquired knowledge of one or more of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a major in the field. OR Combination of education and experience: Appropriate combination of education and experience that included at least 24 semester hours of course work in the behavioral or social sciences, and that provided applicants with knowledge of the behavioral or social sciences equivalent to a 4-year degree. Grade Level Requirements: You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Experience/Education GS-07 level: Specialized Experience. One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-05 level that has equipped you with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. Examples are: Facilitates and empowers clients to develop and achieve self-determined goals related to health and wellness. Coaches support clients in mobilizing internal strengths and external resources and develops self-management strategies for making sustainable, healthy lifestyle behavior changes and more effectively managing chronic disease. Coaches assist clients to use their insight, personal strengths and resources, goal setting, action steps and accountability toward healthy lifestyle change. Develops treatment plans on behavioral interventions based on current scientific knowledge and research that improve quality of life and reduce risk for chronic disease, or that reverse or slow progression of chronic disease. OR Education. One (1) year of graduate-level education OR Combination of experience/education. Have a combination of both education and experience. Note: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience may be used to meet total experience requirements. (To compute, divide your total months of qualifying experience by 12. Then divide your semester hours of graduate education by 18. Add the two percentages. The total percentage must equal at least 100 percent to qualify.) OR Superior Academic Achievement is based on (1) class standing, (2) grade-point average, or (3) honor society membership. Class standing -- Applicants must be in the upper third of the graduating class in the college, university, or major subdivision, such as the College of Liberal Arts or the School of Business Administration, based on completed courses. Grade-point average (G.P.A.)-- Applicants must have a grade-point average of: 3.0 or higher out of a possible 4.0 ("B" or better) as recorded on their official transcript, or as computed based on 4 years of education, or as computed based on courses completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum; or 3.5 or higher out of a possible b.0 ("B+" or better) based on the average of the required courses completed in the major field or the required courses in the major field completed during the final 2 years of the curriculum. Election to membership in a national scholastic honor society -- These honor societies are listed by the Association of College Honor Societies Experience/Education GS-09 level: Experience. One year of specialized experience equivalent to the GS-07 level that has equipped you with particular knowledge, skills, and abilities to successfully perform the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the position to be filled. Examples are: Facilitates and empowers clients to develop and achieve self-determined goals related to health and wellness. Coaches support clients in mobilizing internal strengths and external resources and develops self-management strategies for making sustainable; healthy lifestyle behavior changes and more effectively managing chronic disease; Contacts eligible participants for enrollment and explain the health coaching process; Provides health coaching for Veterans in order to reduce or eliminate high-risk behaviors while increasing healthy ones; Conducts Whole Health Facilitated Groups; participate in MOVE; smoking cessation, diabetes management, hypertension clinics, mental health, and other inpatient and outpatient groups as appropriate; Participates in leadership roles on local, state and/or national professional organizations; Schedules ongoing sessions to assess progress and assist in navigating obstacles or challenges. OR Education. Two (2) years of progressively higher level graduate education leading to a master's degree or master's or equivalent graduate degree. OR Experience/Education Combination. Have a combination of both education and experience. Note: Combinations of successfully completed graduate level education and specialized experience may be used to meet total experience requirements. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationData ManagementLeadershipTechnical Competence National Board for Health and Wellness Coaching (NBC-HWC) certification is preferred. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Some work may require movement between offices, hospitals, warehouses, and similar areas for meetings and to conduct work. Work may also require walking/standing, in conjunctions with travel to and attendance at meetings and/or conferences away from the work site. Incumbent may carry and lift light items weighing less than 15 pounds. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

NOTE: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application.

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 VA Central Texas Health Care System 1901 Veterans Memorial Drive Temple, TX 76504 US
• Name: VISN 17 SSU USAS Group
• Email: [email protected]