Embark on a career as a Social Worker - Community Residential Care with the VA Eastern Kansas Health Care System - VA EKHCS, Topeka Campus. Eastern Kansas Health Care System is a complexity 2 facility and has robust inpatient and outpatient treatment programs including acute medical inpatient, ICU/PCU, acute psychiatry/mental health rehab beds and three community living centers. We offer comprehensive outpatient physical medicine and rehab, mental health, geriatrics and prosthetics.

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU The Clinical Social Worker is assigned to the care management of veterans in the Community Residential Care Program (CRC) and provides comprehensive psychosocial and case management services to veterans placed in community residential care settings. Veterans in the Community Residential Care Program typically have histories of serious mental illness(es), often complicated by other medical illnesses, and requires the Social Worker to have a working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures. Duties include, but not limited to: Ongoing Assessment - The ongoing assessment of the veteran is to highlight the veteran's strengths, limitations, and internal/external supports and service needs to optimize the veteran's functional status. Treatment Planning/Goal Setting - The Social Worker is responsible for contributing to the development of the treatment plan and setting achievable treatment goals with the veteran and family members/caregiver and other Clinical CRC staff. Referral to service providers - Throughout the course of treatment, the Social Worker is the subject matter expert on VA and/or community resources, and will collaborate with other service providers in reassessing the veteran's needs. Resource Usage/Development - The Social Worker is responsible for using the current Social Work resource file of VA and community social service programs and enhancing the content to the benefit of veterans. Advocacy - The Social Worker understands the intimidation of bureaucracy and will act as an advocate when it serves the best interest of the veteran and family members/caregiver. When appropriate and feasible, the Social Worker will educate and encourage the veteran to advocate on his/her own behalf, thus fostering a sense of independence and empowerment. Crisis Intervention - The Social Worker is experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for admission to mental health inpatient programs. The Social Worker has access to multiple resource directories in addition to previously developed resources to meet the demands of a crisis. Education/Health promotion and prevention - The Social Worker provides education related to VA and community resources, entitlements, Advance Directives/Living Will and will refer veterans and family members/caregiver to the appropriate interdisciplinary team member for identified health education needs. Coordination of non-institutional and institutional services - The Social Worker will review the progress notes from the other providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each veteran enrolled in CRC, and will educate the veteran, their family members/caregiver and the team of all the options available to them and will collaborate with the veteran and family members/caregiver on the preferred option. Supportive counseling - The Social Worker will provide the veterans and their family members/caregiver with ongoing supportive counseling. The purpose of such counseling is to deal with the psychosocial impact of coping with severe mental illness (es) to include Substance Abuse Disorder, chronic/disabling illness (es), onset of a catastrophic illness, etc. Discharge/Aftercare planning - The Social Worker, in collaboration with the veteran's multidisciplinary treatment team and other appropriate hospital clinical staff, will assist veteran and their family members/caregiver in planning for discharge/aftercare by offering appropriate and viable discharge/aftercare options to the veteran and appropriate family members/caregiver if veteran should choose to discharge from CRC and the plan is supported by the treatment team. Administrative responsibilities - The Social Worker will enter all veteran/family contacts in the electronic record using appropriate formats and templates. This information will be entered in a complete, confidential and professional manner to ensure information on the patient is shared with other VA staff. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 0730-1600 or 0800-1630 Telework: Regular Telework 1-2 days per pay period. Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 000000/Social Work - CRC Clinical Social Worker Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized to highly qualified candidates Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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. English Language Proficiency. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. 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. Note: 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. Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work 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. NOTE: Exception. VHA may waive the licensure or certification requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of state prerequisites for licensure/certification examinations. This exception only applies at the GS-9 grade level. 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: Social Worker, GS-9: Experience, Education, and Licensure: None beyond the basic requirements. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Ability to work with Veterans and family members from various socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diversified backgrounds utilizing counseling skills. Ability to assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members, and to formulate and implement a treatment plan, identifying the Veterans problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and assistance needed. Ability to implement treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups to achieve treatment goals. This requires judgment and skill in utilizing supportive, problem solving, or crisis intervention techniques. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communicate with clients, staff, and representatives of community agencies. Fundamental knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic, and traumatic illnesses/injuries; common medications and their effects/side effects; and medical terminology. Social Worker, GS-11 Experience and Licensure: Minimum of one year of post-MSW experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the field of health care or other social work-related settings, (VA or non- VA experience) and licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level. Education: In addition to meeting basic requirements, a doctoral degree in social work from a school of social work may be substituted for the required one year of professional social work experience in a clinical setting. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Knowledge of community resources, how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services, and ability to coordinate services. Skill in independently conducting psychosocial assessments and treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational and other diversified backgrounds. Knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures (i.e. acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology) to formulate a treatment plan. Skill in independently implementing different treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical, and social problems to achieve treatment goals. Ability to provide consultation services to new social workers, social work graduate students, and other staff about the psychosocial needs of patients and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and compliance with treatment. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-11. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-9 to GS-11.

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 Eastern Kansas Health Care System 2200 SW Gage Blvd Topeka, KS 66622 US
• Name: Christopher Jackson
• Phone: 785-350-3111 X53152
• Email: [email protected]