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 MHRRTPs (Foundations of Recovery, Domiciliary Housing and SUD Tracks, and Trauma Recovery Men's and Women's Residential programs) provide cognitive-behavioral treatment for substance abuse in a therapeutic community model context. The incumbent will be a part of theses multidisciplinary teams, as a float, and provide clinical and administrative support to the programs' leadership. The incumbent independently provides clinical psychosocial and case management services at an advanced practice level for eligible Veterans and their family members in the program. Case management is designed to improve independent living skills and address issues and conditions which interfere with effective community integration. Incumbent takes steps necessary to ensure that Veteran care is coordinated with the VA medical center, community health or mental health providers, and agencies that serve this population. Major duties include but not limited to: The incumbent provides direct mental health, rehabilitation, and substance abuse services for Veterans and family members or significant others in support of the Veteran's treatment. They must possess the knowledge and ability to independently implement treatment modalities, provide counseling or psychotherapy for individuals, families, and groups. Provides intensive mental health services to Veterans that require the exercise of mature, independent professional judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of clinical skills. The incumbent demonstrates compassion, acceptance, interest, and encouragement and includes the Veterans in their course of treatment and utilizes methods and techniques to maintain a therapeutic relationship that recognizes the value of the Veterans' input in their care. The incumbent serves as a licensed attending provider for the residential unit and may have ultimate responsibility for program admission and discharge decisions as well as patient transfers to and from other VA programs. The incumbent may serve as the primary professional responsible for conducting daily groups and classes within the residential treatment milieu, establishing a process for issuance of urine drug screens to program residents, coordinating care for patients receiving psychiatric medications, and responding to medical and psychiatric emergencies on the unit. The incumbent acts as a liaison between the MHRRTs and Community Care RRTPs, to provide care coordination for veterans returning to VA MHRRTPs or following up with them. In this role, the incumbent will acquire information necessary to make appropriate referrals and coordinate care. The incumbent independently and/or in collaboration with the MHRRTPs treatment team identify high-risk Veterans and provide clinical oversight. The incumbent independently provides crisis intervention services. The incumbent provides individual, group, and family therapy, utilizing specific techniques designed and empirically supported for this unique population, including motivational interviewing, cognitive behavioral therapy, twelve step facilitation, skills training in affective and interpersonal regulation, psychosocial rehabilitation, contingency management, etc. The incumbent receives and completes consults requesting services from interdisciplinary team members and from other mental health professionals on complex, difficult cases, using advanced practice skills and expertise. The incumbent also provides consultation to interdisciplinary team members and is responsible for the development and maintenance of professional standards of practice and educating others about them. The incumbent explains Veteran's treatment and progress to third parties as appropriate and manages the quality control and evaluation of the professional services provided. The incumbent devises methods of obtaining data and evaluates data to determine the effectiveness of treatment and identifies consistent qualities of successful and non-successful treatment. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM. Telework: May be available on (Ad-hoc) basis. 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]