West Palm Beach VA Medical Center is looking for a Senior Social Worker for Housing and Urban Development/VA Supportive Housing (HUD/VASH) which is an intensive case management program for chronically homeless Veterans in the Palm Beach County (and all other counties served in the WPB VAMC's catchment area) aimed at providing psychosocial services while participants reside in stable housing through HUD's Section 8 voucher system.

Duties

The Senior Social Worker independently provides clinical psychosocial and case management services at an advanced practice level to eligible Veterans and their family members to meet biological, psychological, social and environmental needs. Veterans treated come from a wide geographic area. Their health care and psychosocial problems and needs are complex and require a high degree of clinical oversight and creative problem-solving. Services are provided in healthcare settings, both inpatient and ambulatory, and in the community. The Senior Social Worker is assigned to the Social Work Service, under the HUD-VASH Program and works closely with the Homeless team and community care programs to ensure that coordination between these entities is facilitated and Veterans direct care, referral, and follow-up is based on a continuum of services. Additional duties include but not limited to: Responsible for providing HUD-VASH case management in the WPB service area. Case management is defined as the provision of services by VA clinical staff to homeless Veterans and includes all activities to provide appropriate treatment and maintain Veterans in HUD approved stable housing in the WPB service areas. Effectively provides case management services while utilizing professional skill, objectivity, insight, advanced clinical training, and experience to interpret data and to identify viable treatment options and recognizing potential high risk factors, acuity, and needs for services. Conduct psychosocial assessments to determine needs of Veterans and family members. Verifies the Veteran's status, eligibility for VA medical care, and eligibility of program participation. Active participant in the treatment planning process with other disciplines. Participate in discharge planning with other disciplines and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely and appropriate. Provide individual, family and group counseling as appropriate. Provide consultation/education to Veterans and families on community resources, advance directives and VA benefits. Act as liaison between VA and community resources to include marketing and public relation duties as needed. Address Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of their work area. Will assist patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability, terminal illness and death. Document social work interventions and activities in patient's clinical record utilizing CPRS and ensure appropriate hand off when transferring of patient care. Responsible for ensuring that homeless Veterans are considered as primary participants for program acceptance. Coordinates care including serving as an advocate on behalf of the Veterans to ensure comprehensive service delivery, linking and referring Veterans to the VA Medical Center, outpatient clinics, VA Regional Offices and/or community agencies. 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. Develops the screening procedures to involve a multidisciplinary team approach and is responsible to ensure criteria and procedures are maintained. Provides primary input for program participant selection based on structured interviews and clinical assessments. 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. Maintains current and establishes new relationships with other community-based service providers for the homeless, and when appropriate, represents VA at community service provider meetings. May be required to work evening hours, holidays and/or weekend shifts. Will participate in a rotation of on-call social workers, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on weekends. Will be cross trained to assist and provide cross coverage when needed within Social Work Service as well as collaborative duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm, with rotating tours of duty as needed. Telework: Yes - as determined by the agency policy Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: Senior Social Worker (HUD/VASH) Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized 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: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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/. 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: In addition to meeting the basic requirements stated above, the following qualifications criteria must be met in determining the appropriate grade assignment of candidates. GS-12 Senior Social Workercandidates must have the following: Experience/Education: The candidate must have at least two (2) years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one (1) 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. While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge's Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAOs), you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position. Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training; otherwise, we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim. These are the KSA's for this subject position: 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. References: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Preferred Experience: At least two years of experience in an area of specialized social work practice and has knowledge of special Veteran populations with complex health or mental health problems requiring expert level of psychosocial interventions. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of the work requires use of fingers; moderate walking and standing; near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in on eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; hearing aid permitted; clear speech; emotional stability; moderate duty. Ability to drive/operate a government car.

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.

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 West Palm Beach VA Medical Center 7305 North Military Trail West Palm Beach, FL 33410 US
• Name: Kathryn Miller
• Phone: 407-793-6273
• Email: [email protected]