The Senior Social Worker practices in the Radiation Oncology (Rad/Onc) program and serves a patient population with highly complex health and mental health problems. The Senior Social Worker is assigned to administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns.

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Major duties include, but are not limited to: The incumbent performs specialized treatment of complex physical and mental illness for patients followed by the Radiation/Oncology team. The Minneapolis VA Health Care System Radiation/Oncology team consists of an interdisciplinary group including Attending MDs, MD Fellows, MD Residents, Physician Assistants, Pharmacists, RN Case Managers, Nurse Practitioners, and a Rad/Onc Social Worker. The Rad/Onc Social Worker provides a variety of psychosocial services to Veterans in both the inpatient and outpatient setting. The Minneapolis VAHCS Hem/Onc Social Worker's role is to provide supportive counseling and appropriate case management services to reduce the Veteran's stress throughout all phases of cancer diagnoses and treatment. The incumbent incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. Assessing the patient's understanding of his/her diagnosis and proposed treatments Helping the Veteran cope with the diagnosis of cancer and the many emotions that arise. Includes outreach to veteran in response to a high score on the Distress Thermometer. Education/instruction regarding self-relaxation and other coping strategies Assessing treatment options when factoring in work, family, and the Veteran's other obligations Interagency collaboration when Veteran's cancer care involves multiple entities Providing education related to the patient's VA, Social Security, and disability benefits Providing referrals and linkage to community agencies with specialized benefits Counseling individuals, couples, and families or referrals to specialized mental health providers Linkages to appropriate cancer support groups and educational programs Facilitating communication between the treatment team, Veteran, and Family, including advocacy Facilitating family discussions about illness, healthcare, and life changes End of life planning/preference of care with the use of Advance Directives for Healthcare Discharge planning; inpatient and outpatient placements into residential care facilities, skilled nursing facilities, and adult day healthcare programs Addressing the impact of cancer on life issues (intimacy, body image, living as a survivor with the uncertainty of remission, etc.) Providing education or referrals for required transportation to/from cancer care treatments at the VA or community programs Determining appropriate assistive devices and home care to improve/secure ambulation and continued home safety Advocating for home health or hospice care when requested by the Veteran. The Senior Social Worker is able to provide individual, group, and family psychotherapy and advanced level case management interventions used in the treatment of veterans with serious medical and psychiatric disorders. The Social Worker provides services that access the continuum of care. The Social Worker provides services on an inpatient and outpatient basis. The Senior Social Worker develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the Rad/Onc specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. The incumbent is able to demonstrate the ability to design changes based on empirical findings. The Senior Social Worker offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in specialty areas, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. The incumbent demonstrates the ability to teach and mentor staff and students in the special area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications. Work Schedule: 07:30 to 16:00; Monday through Friday Telework: Telework, if approved, will be on an Ad-Hoc basis only. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required This occupational series is eligible for the Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP). Repayment is limited to $10,000 annually, up to $100,000 in lifetime awards. Participants must sign a service agreement and maintain an acceptable level of performance to remain eligible for this program.

Requirements

Qualifications

All requirements for this position must be met by the closing date of the announcement. 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: Must possess a Master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). Licensure: Must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in written and spoken English to be appointed. Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker GS-0185-12 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: Applicants must meet the requirements for providing supervision in the state where they are licensed at the advanced practice level and should list these qualifications within the assessment narrative and their resume. Documentation is required if part of your state's requirements for providing supervision for licensure is beyond your licensure only (example: certification of continuing education credits). Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs (Note: a separate document with written demonstration of KSAs must be included with application, see required documents section): (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 G39 Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application.

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 Minneapolis VA Medical Center One Veterans Drive Minneapolis, MN 55417 US
• Name: Jason Arcand
• Phone: 612-629-7118
• Email: [email protected]