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

The Senior Social Worker selected for this position will need to have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, to provide direct services to Veterans and their families, in the Veterans home, that are enrolled in the HBPC Program. This is a full performance level of a Senior Social Worker for the Home Based Primary Care Program (HBPC). Provides psychosocial treatment to various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diversified backgrounds. Independently assesses the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members. Formulates and implements a treatment plan, identifying the patient's problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and assistance needed, in collaboration with the patient, family, and interdisciplinary treatment team. Independently provides a full range of assessment and evaluation services appropriate to the care setting. Works with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues to include patient's decision-making capacity regarding health care; Develops person-centered, culturally sensitive treatment plans to address the needs of patients. Creates plans of action to ensuring assessment and crisis intervention services are maximized based on circumstances and availability of resources. Understands caregiver stressors, ability to conduct caregiver assessments and provide appropriate caregiver specific interventions. Serves as a liaison between Veterans and/or their families and VA and community resources to ensure thorough delivery of services. Identifies impacted Veterans and connect them with VA and community resources. Possess a working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures, including acute, chronic, and traumatic illnesses, substance abuse disorders, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology. Finds a suitable means of treatment to help Veterans and/or significant others cope with stressful situations. Treatment is aimed at helping Veterans find practical solutions to problems. Assists with contacting hospitals or other relevant locations to locate medical records or emergency documentation Provide subject matter expertise in all phases of disaster response plans, including mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery. Establishes and maintains effective relationships with Veterans and their families/and or caregiver. Incumbent independently works with patients and families who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical and social problems utilizing therapy skills within the bounds of his/her level of licensure, as needed. Possess skills and knowledge to provide case management services to Veterans and their families throughout the continuum of care. Independently works with Veterans and their families who are experiencing a wide range of complicated medical, psychiatric, emotional, behavioral, financial, legal, and psychosocial problems. Facilitate action for community placement through collaboration with Veterans and their families as well as interdisciplinary treatment team members to ensure that appropriate community placements are completed in a timely manner. Possess knowledge of the signs and symptoms of abuse, neglect and exploitation. possess and demonstrate ability to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing with people from varied backgrounds. Serves on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility as deemed appropriate by the supervisor and Chief of Social Work Services. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8am - 4:30pm, May vary depending on deployment and/or assigned facility needs Telework: Available Travel: Up to 50% may be required. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Available EDRP Authorized: 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. Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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. 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. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade. Experience: 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 and 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. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: 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. Preferred Experience and Certifications Experience working independently and employing critical thinking Full independent licensure at the advanced practice level At least two years should be in an area of specialized social work practice. Experience managing a case management workload Clinical Social Work Experience Experience addressing complex psychosocial factors Experience prioritizing multiple tasks and meeting deadlines Reference: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G-39 Social Worker Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office. Physical Requirements: Eligible applicants must be physically and mentally able to perform efficiently the essential functions of the position, with or without reasonable accommodation, without hazard to themselves or others. Light Lifting (20 - 11 lbs. occasionally; 10 lbs. or less frequently); Light Carrying (20 - 11 lbs. occasionally; 10 lbs. or less frequently); Straight Pulling (up to 1 hour); Pushing (1 - 2 hours); Reaching above shoulder; frequent keyboarding (4-7 hours per day); Sitting (4-7 hours per day); Walking (up to 3 hours); Standing (up to 3 hours); Repeated bending (up to 1 hour); Ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; Correctable near sited and far sited Vision; Hearing (aid permitted). Requires daily travel into the community and the ability to get in and out of a government vehicle several times a day. Frequent/Occasional Travel: The position requires occasional travel away from the duty station for local meetings; and infrequent distant meetings and conferences. Requires daily travel into the community. Must be able to obtain and maintain a valid Texas and Federal Driver License to operate a government vehicle. This travel may require the transporting of PHI information. Basic Life Support (BLS) is required for all direct patient care positions per local policy. Incumbent will be self-directed in completing orientation and on-going mandatory education. Will actively participate in annual competency assessment and validation. Patient Safety Competency Statement: The incumbent will be responsible for promoting a culture of safety and will fully cooperate in efforts to improve patient safety and eradicate potential events including the reporting of events resulting in actual or potential injury to a patient. Incumbent must demonstrate knowledge of the reporting procedures involving safety issues relating to patients.

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 Dallas VA Medical Center 4500 South Lancaster Road Dallas, TX 75216 US
• Name: Gerald Coleman
• Phone: 205-929-7957
• Email: [email protected]