This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

Duties

The Community Resource and Referral Center (CRRC) Expansion Senior Social Worker works at a community site, walk in clinic, and emergency room where chronically homeless Veterans or Veterans who are at risk of becoming homeless can access immediate services. The focus is to provide psychosocial services to these Veterans. The role of the CRRC social worker may also be to provide outreach, case management, and follow-up services in the community utilizing a government vehicle. This social worker will assess the needs of Veterans visiting the emergency room and provide resource and referrals. The CRRC expansion program is responsible for serving the most clinically acute homeless Veterans. The success of these vulnerable Veterans engaging in services that will end their homelessness depends upon having sufficient staff with advanced practice skills and judgement to provide services. This position requires a high degree of clinical knowledge and experience dealing with highly complex health and mental health problems, elder abuse, self-neglect, dual diagnosis, intimate partner violence and substance use. This position must also have an understanding of admission and discharge processes for the hospital and the ability to assess and intervene with Veterans experiencing thoughts of suicide. This position will also play a critical role in reducing the numbers of homeless Veterans waiting for shelter pick-up and will be able to provide in-depth assessment and intervention with difficult to place homeless Veterans. The most prevalent need, among the many complex needs of homeless Veterans, is housing and accessing community based resources. This necessitates the use of a comprehensive approach which addresses the needs of substance abuse and addiction, untreated or undertreated mental health issues and untreated or undertreated medical issues by advocating, linking, and referring the Veteran to obtain and maintain stability in housing. The role of the CRRC expansion Senior Social Worker will be to prevent homelessness by establishing opportunities for mental and physical health stabilization and maintenance, to access secure housing and to work with Veterans to promote their full level of desired independence and functioning in the community. The Senior Social Worker will provide assessment and referrals for the needs of Veterans visiting the emergency room. The Senior Social Worker will address interpersonal and intrapersonal challenges including various behavior interventions through therapeutic communication. The Senior Social Worker has experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgement. At least two years should be in an area of specialized social work practice. Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included a clinical examination. The advanced practice social worker can be further differentiated from the independent practice social worker by the incumbent's ability to expand clinical knowledge in the profession, provide consultation and guidance to colleagues on complex clinical matters, model effective social work practice skills, teach or provide orientation to less experienced social workers, and develop innovations in practice interventions. Setting and general duties: Working with Veterans in the community who are homeless or at risk of homelessness, offering services through case management, supportive counseling, and providing referrals to substance abuse treatment programs. Completing a comprehensive evaluation of Veterans needs and connecting them to the appropriate medical or other health related entities, including but not limited to consults for VA related care. Individuals will be completing other duties as assigned. Independently performs case finding functions and outreach for the purpose of disseminating information pertaining to the CRRC program, identifying and screening patients for psychosocial needs related to mental health, medical issues, substance abuse and addiction, income and housing. Incumbent must possess the knowledge and ability to independently implement treatment modalities, provide counseling and/or case management for the complex needs of veterans and their families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. Independently conducts psychosocial assessments. Develops treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team. Incumbent possesses the skills to offer psychosocial interventions and measures outcomes to interventions. Work Schedule: Monday through Thursday, 1:30pm - 12:00am. Telework: NotAuthorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized to a highly qualified candidate outside of the 50 mile Radius EDRP Authorized: Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance.Learn more Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: The basic requirements for employment as a VHA social worker are prescribed by statute in 38 U.S.C. 7402(b)(9), as amended by section 205 of Public Law 106-419, enacted November 1, 2000. To qualify for appointment as a social worker in VHA, all applicants must meet the following: Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part). English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). 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 Master of Social Work. (Transcripts Required) 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/. (License Required) Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. 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. (Transcripts Required) 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. (License Required) 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: September 10, 2019, VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39 The full performance level of this vacancy is a GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

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 Jesse Brown Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 820 South Damen Avenue Chicago, IL 60612 US
• Name: Valerie Kelly
• Phone: 773-946-3802
• Email: [email protected]