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

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.; Subject to change to meet the needs of the Agency Telework: Authorized; if approved, would be on a regularly scheduled basis but this is not a remote position. Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 03403F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not 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 The GS-12 incumbent of this position is an independent practice-level social worker and functions as one of the Senior Social Workers for the Housing and Urban Development - Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program. The HUD-VASH program is a collaborative effort, supported through HUD Housing Choice rental assistance vouchers and VA's provision of intensive case management services. The primary goal of HUD-VASH is to move Veterans and their families out of chronic homelessness. The primary component of the program is VA case management services. designed to improve Veteran's health and mental health, enhancing their ability to remain stable, housed and community integrated. Duties fort he position may include but are not limited to: Provide Outreach services for HUD-VASH in the community. Conducts intake and needs assessment of homeless Veterans and their significant others. Manage contact with interested Veterans and maintain up-to-date information about Veteran eligibility. Provides all necessary assessment functions, e.g. interviewing, psychosocial histories, and assessments to aid in the development of treatment plans. Serve as a member of a multidisciplinary homeless program treatment team. Participate in policy making, goal setting, and treatment service planning discussions with other members of HUD-VASH and Homeless Programs. Responsible for the collection of statistical data and for reviewing the data to improve performance and delivery of services to homeless Veterans. Serving as one of the primary contacts with the local Public Housing Agencies (PHAs) and providing case management-based services (directly or through referral) necessary to ensure that Veteran care is coordinated with the VA medical center, community health or mental health providers, and agencies that serve homeless populations. Regularly conducts and participants in outreach activities including field interviews, assessments and referrals for homeless Veterans contacted in the community, shelters, and "on the streets," as well as those who are referred by VA residential programs, medical centers, or outpatient clinics. Establishes, implements, and maintains referral and screening procedures for potential HUD-VASH Veteran participants that meet national policy as well as the needs of medical center mental health services and residential programs. Provides primary input for program participant selection based on structured interviews and clinical assessments. Assesses at-risk factors and develops a preliminary plan, involving the Veteran and family or significant others, and performs an insightful assessment of serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness which may also include, catastrophic medical condition, dementia, traumatic brain injuries, and other high risks diagnoses. Uses professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis. Receives and completes consults requesting services from interdisciplinary team members and from other mental health professional on complex, difficult cases, using advanced practice skills and expertise. Provides consultation to interdisciplinary team members and is responsible for development and maintenance of professional standards of practice and educating others about them. Provides referral to VA medical and mental health inpatient and outpatient treatment and to other VA services including VA benefits, as well as community-based social services and other non-VA entitlement programs. If appropriate, the incumbent provides referrals or consults, or in some cases direct admission of the Veterans, prior to HUD-VASH participation, for other VA Treatment Programs (Compensated Work Therapy--CWT, SATS). Using known resources, the incumbent makes initial and continuing decisions coordinating the Veteran's care through linking and referral to VA medical facilities or Regional Offices and other VA and non-VA services. Aid in the development and implementation of program initiatives for the benefit of all HCHV and HUD-VASH team members. Other related duties as assigned.

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. 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. English Language Proficiency: Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j, this part. 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). Grandfathering Provision: The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title 38 hybrid qualification standards. Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation. All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation. If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. ? 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation. NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS-0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection. If they choose to return at a later date to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker. 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: 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. 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. Other Requirements: This position involves periodically transporting patients and requires a valid driver's license. In addition, as per Incidental Drivers Policy PS-05-80, employee's driver's record will be reviewed regularly through the CA DMV Employer Pull Notice (EPN) Program. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard, GS-0185, Veterans Health Administration, dated September 10, 2019. The full performance level of this vacancy is 12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is a GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 Employee Occupational Health Service

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 VA Northern California Health Care System 10535 Hospital Way Mather, CA 95655 US
• Name: Roger Brown
• Phone: (415)221-4810 X24484
• Email: [email protected]