The Social Work Associate (SWA) duties are performed in support of a licensed social worker. Work is performed across the VA Augusta Health Care System in the Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery Services (ICMHRS) Mental Health Intensive Case Management MHICM) program. Primary functions include providing case management services veterans with severe mental illness enrolled in the MHICM program.

Duties

The SWA duties involve, screening and case management services for veterans enrolled in MHICM. SWA gathers background information through interviews done at the Medical Center, community based outpatient clinic, in the community or over the telephone. The SWA helps veterans identify needs that are related to services the program can provide, explaining and encouraging the use of veteran affairs and community resources as a means of dealing with identified problems and making appropriate referrals to sources of additional help. Specific duties of this position include the following: Screening, case management and treatment plan development for Veterans active in MHICM. Managing complex needs of Veterans active in MHICM that often are time consuming. Completing documents interventions in CPRS in a timely manner. Assist Veteran patients, families, and non-patients by providing supportive counseling and/or appropriate referrals with problems that are intangible in nature (i.e., marital conflict, family dysfunction, chronic mental illness, substance abuse, dementia, etc.) Provide on-going supportive counseling to Veteran patients to maximize their coping and adjustment to illness, injury, treatment, and living demands so that readmission to the medical center is avoided or forestalled. Complete clinical reminders and assist as needed with the intake assessment. Collaborate with other treatment providers and family members, when available to assess mental health treatment needs and appropriateness for residential treatment. Identify appropriate community and VA resources, and facilitate utilization of these resources by the Veteran, families, and non-patients. Performs other related duties as assigned. . Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Social Work Associate/PD07936A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized 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, 10/23/2023. 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-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. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. You may qualify based on your experience and/or education as described below: Specialized Experience for the GS-9 You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-07 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: experience in a program of direct social welfare services that required the application of program policy and operations knowledge in providing social welfare services and/or assisting social workers. Providing assistance and service support as prescribed by social workers in conjunction with their treatment, interviewing patients for information or service purpose; handling referrals selected referrals to social and health facilities. obtaining and compiling data and similar types of work, organizing mental health and medical treatment needs, initiating requests for medical appointments/services and assisting with local, State or Federal Benefits and referrals for food, shelter, and transportation. (This experience must be supported by your resume to be creditable). You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: Customer Service Decision Making Accountability Attention to Detail Manages and Organizes Information 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. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: Light lifting (under 15 lbs.); light carrying (under 15 lbs.); reaching above shoulder; use of fingers; walking (intermittent); standing (intermittent); hearing (aid permitted); clear speech. The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items like papers or books. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. 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: 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 Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center One Freedom Way Augusta, GA 30901 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]