The Substance Use Disorder-Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (SUD-PTSD) Senior Social Worker provides professional clinical services as a member of the SUD Specialty Team and as a liaison to Trauma Recovery Program (TRP) within specialty care. The SUD-PTSD Senior Social Worker also consults with providers throughout the medical center and community based outpatient clinics (CBOCs) who may directly interact with Veterans presenting with co-occurring PTSD and SUD.

Duties

The SUD-PTSD Specialist works within the SUD specialty team and TRP teams providing clinical consultation with staff and services to a panel of patients with complex, comorbid health conditions. Direct clinical service duties include, but are not necessarily limited to: Provides/completes clinical assessment to determine level of care needed. Utilizes appropriate instruments and structured interviews; Serves as an authoritative source of information in the use and interpretation of clinical assessments to make differential diagnoses; Provides expert consultation to other disciplines or units with regard to assessment and evaluation procedures. Offers a full range of group and individual mental health interventions consistent with training and expertise, with special emphasis on brief and evidenced-based interventions found to be effective in the treatment of PTSD and SUD; Demonstrates sensitivity to the special needs of all patients in respect to age, gender, ethnicity, developmental requirements, and culturally-related factors; Delivers appropriate evidenced-based interventions for families and identified supports, as needed. Participates in rotating schedule for on-call services afterhours, holidays, and weekends. Actively engages in treatment planning and clinical care meetings within the PTSD and SUD programs both with and without Veterans present, to facilitate care planning and collaborative, complex care management and coordination; Conceptualizes, develops and implements detailed intervention plans for a full range of services; Independently utilizes judgment in the adjustment of intervention plans; Continually monitors patient's progress, determines when reassessment is appropriate and adjusts intervention plans when needed. Facilitates care coordination including warm handoffs for Veterans with complex needs related to PTSD and SUD who require a variety of addiction, mental health and primary care services at the medical center. Provides comprehensive professional care documentation in the patient record system, adhering with timeliness standards for quality care. Serves as Point of Contact and liaison between the PTSD programs and specialty SUD services at the facility. Attends team meetings for both clinics as part of this role. Provides training, lectures or workshops to mental health staff, medical staff, and others in the community when requested to do so. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00AM-4:30PM Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 00000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized 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. 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. 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: Knowledge of community resources, how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services, and ability to coordinate services. Ability to independently assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members and to formulate and implement 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. Ability to independently conduct psychosocial assessments and provide psychosocial treatment to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational and other diversified backgrounds. This requires knowledge of human development and behavior (physical and psychological) and the differential influences of the environment, society and culture. Knowledge and experience in the use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology. Knowledge of psychosocial treatment and ability to independently implement treatment modalities in working with individuals, families and groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical and social problems to achieve treatment goals. This requires independent judgment and skill in utilizing supportive, problem solving or crisis intervention techniques. Ability to independently provide counseling and/or psychotherapy services to individuals, groups and families. Social workers must practice within the bounds of their license or certification. For example, some states may require social workers providing psychotherapy to have a clinical level of licensure. Ability to provide consultation services to other staff about the psychosocial needs of patients and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and compliance with treatment. Ability to provide orientation and coaching to new social workers and social work graduate students. Ability to serve as a field instructor for social work graduate students who are completing VHA field placements. Ability to independently evaluate his/her own practice through participation in professional peer review case conferences, research studies, or other organized means. Knowledge and skill in the use of computer software applications for drafting documents, data management, and tracking, especially those programs in use by VHA. 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.

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 Beckley VA Medical Center 200 Veterans Avenue Beckley, WV 25801 US
• Name: Brenda Johnson
• Phone: 7275986871
• Email: [email protected]