Position is for a Peer Specialist GS-6-7-8-9- Career Ladder. It is located in the Mental Health Service, at the Charles George VA Medical Center, Asheville, North Carolina, in VISN 6. The Peer Specialist is responsible for a variety of therapeutic and supportive tasks, that include assisting Veterans in articulating their goals for recovery, learning and practicing new skills, helping them monitor their progress, assisting them in their treatment, modeling effective coping techniques.

Duties

The Peer Specialist functions as an interdisciplinary team member, assisting physicians and other professional/non-professional personnel in a rehabilitation treatment program. Peer specialists perform a variety of therapeutic and supportive tasks that include assisting Veterans in articulating their goals for recovery and personal wellness, learning, and practicing new skills, helping them monitor their progress, assisting them in their treatment, modeling effective coping techniques and self-help strategies based on the peer specialist's own recovery experience, and supporting them in advocating for themselves to obtain effective services. Duties include, but not limited to the following: Participates in the service, training, consultation, and other professional activities of VA health care services and functions as a fully vested member of the multidisciplinary team. Uses personal recovery experiences to model coping techniques and recovery tolls to coach Veterans to relevant skills need for self-management of their health condition(s) and pursuit of their personal wellness. Observes behaviors that might indicate difficulty adapting or responding to treatment (e.g., missed assessment appointments, failure to attend or maintain abstinence, risk to self or others, disruptive behavior), completes appropriate documentation, and reports concerns to the treatment team in a timely manner. Uses ongoing individual and group meetings to teach Veterans how to identify and combat negative self-talk and overcome fears by providing a forum that allows Veteran to share their experiences. As necessary, handles crisis interventions for Veterans and addresses other emergent situations without the benefit of specific instructions. Informs Veterans about VA and community supports and resources, including how to effectively utilize them in the recovery and wellness process. Maintains a working knowledge of current trends and developments in holistic approaches in wellness and recovery by reading books, journals, and other relevant materials. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am -4:30pm Telework: Available, at discretion of Supervisor Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Peer Specialist/PD99696S Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Promotion Potential: This position involves a multi-grade career ladder. The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met. Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Requirements

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to background/security investigation
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 11/01/2023. 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-05 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-04. 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: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-04 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Comprehensive knowledge of Beneficiary Travel regulations and laws sufficient to maintain the budget for the Beneficiary Travel Program and completes requests for additional funding in various control points; Knowledge of an infinite variety of complex travel regulations and guidelines sufficient to process claims efficiently; Basic knowledge of budgeting and accounting skills sufficient to analyze any out-of balance situations and take corrective action, as necessary, since this is vital to handling patient's monies and schedules of payments; In-depth knowledge of fund control point activity sufficient to complete a monthly reconciliation report, which must balance with Fiscal Service; Knowledge of allotments, compensation and pension amounts and disbursements relative to accounts, reflecting various types of payments sufficient to separate institutional award monies from funds derived from private sources; General knowledge of the Social Security benefits payment system sufficient to comply with Social Security directives in accounting for funds received for a particular patient; Knowledge of accounting practices, such as posting receipts and making withdrawals from accounts sufficient to receive, analyze and post deposits into patient accounts on a daily basis; Knowledge of Fund Control Point clerk's responsibilities sufficient to create requests, reconcile control point balances, and generate reports; Skill in balancing, reconciling and researching discrepancies in accounts sufficient to prepare monthly reconciliation reports, prepares schedules for advance payments, review and approve outstanding obligations, and prepare all vouchers to transfer funds to other agencies; Skill in oral communication sufficient to respond to all telephonic inquiries from a variety of sources concerning patient's funds and maintenance of accounts; Skill in written communication sufficient to review, analyze and respond to all written inquiries from a variety of sources concerning patient's funds and maintenance of accounts. OR, Education: Applicants may substitute education for the required experience. To qualify based on education for this grade level you must have successfully completed 4 years above the high school level in any field. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business, secretarial or technical school, junior college, college or university. One year of full-time academic study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university, or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business, secretarial, or technical school. (Transcripts Required) OR, Combination: Applicants may also combine education and experience to qualify at this level. You must have an combination of specialized experience and education. Only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours (i.e., beyond the second year) is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirement. One full academic year of study (30 semester hours) beyond the second year is equivalent to 6 months of specialized experience. (Transcripts Required) You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationInterpersonal SkillsLeadershipLearningWriting 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: Position must alternate between desks, work counter, and telephones. Periodic standing for long periods of time may be required. Over four hundred vouchers for travel pay are issued per day from this office. Work Environment: Work is performed in an office environment in a secured area with controlled access. 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

There is an educational substitution at this grade level.

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 Charles George VA Medical Center 1100 Tunnel Road Asheville, NC 28805 US
• Name: Danielle Muse
• Email: [email protected]