HUD-VASH is an intensive case management program for chronically homeless Veterans aimed at providing psychosocial services to Veterans while residing in stable housing through HUD's Section 8 voucher system.

Duties

Duties may include, but are not limited to: The incumbent is responsible for the assessment, identification, facilitation and referral to appropriate medical and psychiatric services to those Veterans identified as appropriate for the HUD-VASH program. The incumbent evaluates the Veteran's situation, abilities, and capabilities, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion including an assessment of vulnerability and prioritization for admission. The incumbent assesses at-risk factors and develops a preliminary plan, involving the Veteran and family or significant others, and performs an insightful assessment of serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness which may also include, catastrophic medical condition, dementia, traumatic brain injuries, and other high risks diagnoses. As part of a comprehensive psychosocial assessment, the incumbent interviews the Veteran and their family members or significant others to establish facts about the Veteran's situation, presenting problems and their causes, and the impact of such problems on the Veterans functioning and health. The incumbent reviews all data, subjective and objective and makes a clinical assessment, identifying needs and strengths. Based on the psychosocial assessment, the incumbent uses professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis. The incumbent provides specialized Substance Use Disorder interventions to Veterans participating in the HUD-VASH program. Interventions may include and are not limited to individual assessments, case management, or group therapy. The incumbent provides referral to VA medical and mental health inpatient and outpatient treatment and to other VA services including VA benefits, as well as community-based social services and other non-VA entitlement programs. If appropriate, the incumbent provides referrals or consults, or in some cases direct admission of the veterans prior to HUD-VASH participation, for other VA programs including community-based residential treatment such as Grant and Per Diem (GPD) Programs, Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) contract residential treatment, Domiciliary or Mental Health Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Programs (MHRRTP), or Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) and Compensated Work Therapy Transnational Residence (CWT/TR)Programs. The HUD-VASH Social Worker/SUD Specialist has the ability to serve Veterans who tend to have frequent and severe crises, lack family or an adequate community support network, be poor at self-monitoring; those that frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or have significant deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychosocial support. On outpatient basis, finds a suitable means of treatment to help Veterans cope with stressful situations. Treatment is aimed at supporting Veterans from homelessness to independent housing, in some situation (programs) supporting Veterans in education, and employment as they work to end their homelessness. The Senior Social Worker HUD-VASH Social Worker /SUD Specialist develops psychosocial treatment plans, actively involving the Veteran and their family or significant others, in coordination with interdisciplinary team members, based on the psychosocial assessments, including goals for clinical treatment. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Telework: Regular telework two days per pay period. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. 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: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). 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. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. 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: In addition to meeting the basic requirements stated above, the following qualifications criteria must be met in determining the appropriate grade assignment of candidates. GS-12 Senior Social Workercandidates must have the following: Experience/Education: The candidate must have at least two (2) years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one (1) 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. While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge's Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAOs), you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position. Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training; otherwise, we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim. These are the KSA's for this subject position: 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. References: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard. Preferred Experience: Experience providing substance use disorder counseling; Experience working in the community, field-based settings. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of the work requires use of fingers; moderate walking and standing; near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in on eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; hearing aid permitted; clear speech; emotional stability; moderate duty. Ability to drive/operate government vehicle.

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 Bruce W Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 1201 Northwest 16th Street Miami, FL 33125 US
• Name: Payton Hendrix
• Phone: 813-970-3541
• Email: [email protected]