The Senior Social Worker Primary Care Mental Health Integration (SUD) is assigned to the Memphis VA Medical Center or Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) in Primary Care-Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) for the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). PCMHI is is an interdisciplinary team that provides collaborative face-to-face care in Primary Care clinics and telephone care management through the VISN 9 Behavioral Health Lab (BHL).

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to, the following: The Social Worker provides a full range of psychological assessment services as indicated for primary care environment and diagnoses mental and behavioral health concerns, with a focus on substance use disorders. The PCMHI Social Worker will support same-day access to mental health services for Veterans as deemed necessary by the service, in person, by telehealth and by telephone. The PCMHI Social Worker receives Veteran referrals through the PACT. The PC-MHI provider responds to emergent and nonemergent requests with same-day and warm handoff care, and also fulfills non-emergent requests with an appointment for a later date. The PCMHI Social Worker makes the clinical decision to enroll Veterans in BHL telephone services for conditions warranting additional attention (e.g., depression monitoring, watchful waiting) and any of a number of dispositions within PC-MHI (e.g., brief therapy, referral management). The PCMHI Social Worker guides mental health care for referred Veterans to completion or the until the Veteran is integrated into specialty mental health care (e.g., PTSD Clinic (PCT), Mental Health Clinic (MHC), Chemical Dependency Center (CDC). The PCMHI Social Worker provides education appropriate to patients with mental health or behavioral health concerns, their family members, and significant others. This may done by telehealth or PCMHI Care Management, utilizing BHL. The PCMHI Social Worker provides comprehensive, evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions (EBP) appropriate to patients with mental health concerns or disorders, including individual, family, and group psychotherapy (e.g., Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), etc.) as indicated. EBPs will focus on psychosocial treatment with Veterans with substance use disorders, such as opioid use disorder and treatment of alcohol use disorder. The PCMHI Social Worker functions independently as a member of the Memphis VA Medical Center or CBOC Staff, assumes complete professional responsibility for his/her clinical assessment findings, patient care decisions, and documentation. Independently evaluates the client's situation, including the veteran's reaction to it and ability to deal with it, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion. Based on the psychosocial assessment, uses professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis. Assess at-risk factors and develops a preliminary disposition plan, involving the veteran, and family or significant others. Performs insightful assessment of serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness, catastrophic medical conditions, dementia and other high-risk diagnoses. Makes independent professional decisions and recommendations for agency action. Work Schedule: Primarily Monday-Friday, 8-4:30, but may have occasional evening and weekend hours, based on operational needs. Telework: Yes; Part time telework may be available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: May be authorized for highly qualified candidates 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. 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. 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-12: Experience/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 5005/120, Part II Appendix G39The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

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 Memphis VA Medical Center 1030 Jefferson Avenue Memphis, TN 38104 US
• Name: Priscilla Bolding
• Phone: 407-463-5211
• Email: [email protected]