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

Recruitment/Relocation Incentive may be authorized for a highly qualified individual. This vacancy will remain open until filled. The first cut-off cate is 10/12/2023. Additional applicants will be referred as needed. (NOTE: Applications expire after 90 days. Please update application thru USAJobs if you wish to be reconsidered.) The Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) Senior Social Worker serves as a Co-located Collaborative Care (CCC) behavioral health consultant and provides direct care to the Primary Care to the Veteran population at the El Paso VHA. PCMHI is a component of the interdisciplinary Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). The PCMHI Senior Social Worker provides brief, evidence-based interventions, education, and consultation services to Veterans, Primary Care Providers (PCPs), and allied PACT members. The PCMHI Senior Social Worker works collaboratively within PACT to promote prevention, early identification, and treatment of most mild to moderate behavioral health and health behavior concerns as part of routine primary care. PCMHI visits are brief (generally, 30 minutes or less), limited in number (1-6 visits), and structured so that the patient views meeting with the behavioral health provider as a routine primary care service. PCMHI Senior Social Workers integrate their practice into the fast-paced primary care clinic, engaging in a variety of team based activities, including huddles, case review, consultation, and education. Direct service delivery occurs via brief, focused interventions for up to 8-10 patients daily, with a large percentage of those being seen via warm handoff within PACT to ensure same-day access. The PCMHI Senior Social Worker aids in the clinical program development by providing input into the program effectiveness for modification of service patterns. The PCMHI Senior Social Worker may be assigned to work with special Veteran populations with highly complex health or mental health problems. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized EDRP Authorized: Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): 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, 12/29/2023 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. English Language Proficiency Requirement - Per VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j: No person will be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English. 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/. Once licensed or certified, social workers must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment. Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 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: GS-12 Senior Social Worker 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. Advanced Practice Level: For all assignments above the full performance (journey) 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. Advanced Practice Level is defined as the ability to provide independent and expert clinical psychosocial and case management services in a specialized area of practice to Veterans who tend to have serious and severe crises, may lack any familial and community support, may be poor self-monitors, may frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or may have major deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychological support. The advanced practice or senior social worker has an increased depth and breadth of practice skills; has expertise in participating in the professional development of colleagues through mentorship and teaching; demonstrates leadership in developing and expanding professional intervention strategies; demonstrates leadership in defining and attending to professional practice issues; and has the ability to expand the conceptual knowledge of the profession. The advanced practice or senior social worker will make independent professional decisions and recommendations for agency action; the consequences to the Veteran of these decisions and actions may be quite serious. Work involves intensive social work services requiring the exercise of mature professional judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of complex social work practice skills not typically required in routine social work interventions. The advanced practice or senior social worker has mastered a range of specialized interventions and provides consultation to colleagues, renders professional opinions based on experience and expertise, develops new models of psychosocial assessment or intervention, and incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment. The advanced practice or senior social worker utilizes outcome evaluations to further treatment and designs system changes based on empirical findings. Preferred Experience: Experience providing time-limited therapy (e.g., 4-6 sessions) Experience with crisis intervention Experience with evidence-based treatments Experience in collaborating with primary care and other non behavioral health teams References: VA Handbook 5005/120 Part II Appendix G39 VA Qualification Standards. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. 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.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Failure to provide transcripts may result in non-referral of your application if education cannot be verified.

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.

NOTE: If your school was accredited by CSWE at the time of graduation, but is no longer listed on the CSWE website, you must provide documentation of accreditation with your application packet.

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.

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

Contacts

• Address El Paso VA Clinic 5001 North Piedras Street El Paso, TX 79930 US
• Name: VISN 17 SSU USAS Group
• Email: [email protected]