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

Major duties include but not limited to: The Senior Social Worker is a consult triage coordinator is the point of initial contact for all systems referring to VA Palo Alto Addiction Treatment Services. The triage coordinator is the primary ATS liaison across VA services. The consult triage coordinator collaborates with an interdisciplinary treatment team and ATS management to facilitate the recovery and rehabilitation process for Veterans with a range of needs seeking substance use treatment, including engaging creative and innovative methods for more complex cases. The triage coordinator reviews CPRS consults from all services and VISNs including, but not limited to, medicine, inpatient psychiatry, CBOCs, other residential programs, VA Northern California, VA San Francisco, Hawaii, Nevada, Guam, Pago Pago, etc. The triage coordinator then conducts an initial screening, chart review and determines appropriateness for follow up referral. The triage coordinator is responsible for assigning staff to follow up on these consults and insuring they are responded to per regulation. The triage coordinator also serves as the point of contact for managing consult reports and ensuring all consults are closed within 30 days. Through this role, the triage coordinator trains staff to address these referrals and also provides education to referring providers about our services and appropriate consultation. The triage coordinator develops training and education for psychology fellows and interns and develops and implements the Veterans Justice Outreach Coordinator Training program for jail evaluations and coordinated care into VA residential programs. This entails staff shadowing the consult triage coordinator, then being observed directly by the coordinator and then obtaining consultation and oversight by the coordinator of subsequent evaluations. The triage coordinator oversees all evaluations by staff conducted in response to these consultations. The triage coordinator manages the evaluation calendar, trains staff (social work, psychology, interns, fellows, residents, nursing) how to conduct an ATS evaluation, how to present this evaluation to our inter-professional team in case conference and how to appropriately manage and treat this veteran while engaged in ATS services. The triage coordinator collects data and uses analysis to insure timely responses to these consults, at times managing and overseeing the volume of clients we are taking from inside and outside our VISN. The triage coordinator also works to triage cases by evaluating systems based issues (veteran currently utilizing a medicine bed, veteran requiring medically supervised withdrawal through inpatient psychiatry, veteran at high risk) and assigns these cases accordingly. The triage coordinator utilizes clinical decision making to assess risk, appropriate level of care and imminence. In addition to these duties the triage coordinator also maintains and updates ATS internal tracking system for consult management and ensures compliance with VAPA mandates around receiving, completing and discontinuing consults. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30 AM - 4:00 PM Telework: May be available at supervisory discretion. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized to highly qualified candidate. 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.

Requirements

Qualifications

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). Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker,GS-12Experience/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: (a) 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. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) 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. (d) 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. (e) 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 handbook 5005 Part II Appendix G39 Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor. The work is primarily sedentary, although the stress involved in dealing continually with persons in emotional distress and who may be uncooperative makes this work notably more demanding than most sedentary jobs.

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 Palo Alto VA Medical Center 3801 Miranda Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94304 US
• Name: Tyler Jennings
• Phone: 775-486-3377
• Email: [email protected]