This position is located in the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Veterans health Administration (VHA), South Central Veterans Health Care Network, Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN 16), G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center. The primary reason for this position is to support the recovery of Veterans in both the Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (SARRTP) and the Mental Health Trauma Recovery Program (PTSD/RRTP).

Duties

Interacting with the Veterans in a supportive, therapeutic manner in between treatment activities. Assists residents in contacting members of their treatment team or social services as needed to further recovery efforts. Provide psychosocial skills training and psycho-educational interventions, in groups and individually. Debrief emotionally escalated residents by providing one-to-one verbal interaction. Contact with family members will be for information gathering as an adjunct to treatment. Identifies and reports data relative to more complex, non-routine patient situations including subtle changes in patient's behavior, condition, or variance related to neurological signs, vital signs or other parameters. Conduct contraband inspections of the Veteran's personal belongings during the admission process and randomly throughout their admission. Conduct formal safety, security, and privacy self-inspections of public areas, rooms, wardrobes, desk drawers, and medication lockers on an hourly basis. Accompany Addictive Disorder Veterans on scheduled outings, which involves leaving the site several days throughout the week. Secure the residents' confidence and cooperation during these procedures by explaining each step before, during, and after the procedures. Assist Veterans with numerous mental health conditions, which can cause complex situations during their recovery, by leveraging mandatory trainings provided by the programs, TMS and educational trainings within the Mental ailments, and career guidance. Provide a safe environment by performing hourly safety rounds, reporting findings to the treatment teams in a timely manner, documenting every shift and reporting significant findings. Respond to psychiatric emergencies ensuring the safety of the unit as well as the resident, by providing immediate face-to-face interactions and reporting findings to the psychiatrist on call for follow-up recommendations and continue to conduct ongoing assessments of the care environment. This position is covered by AFGE bargaining unit. Per the Master Agreement, the Area of Consideration will be: 1st Area of Consideration - Current permanent G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center employees including satellites; 2nd Area of Consideration - current permanent Veterans Healthcare Administration employees; 3rd Area of Consideration - current permanent VA Nationwide employees; 4th Area of Consideration - All Other Status Applicants. Work Schedule: Rotating Shifts; Monday through Friday to include weekends; subject to change based on the needs of the facility. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Description/PD#: Therapy Assistant/PD84188A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Critical Skills Incentive (CSI): Not Approved Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 12/12/2023. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS 6 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS 5. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement. Individual Occupational Requirements:Applicants who meet the Individual Occupational Requirements described below are fully qualified for the specified entry grade and must also meet the specialized experience and/or education requirements. Specialized Experience: Examples of qualifying specialized experience include work as an assistant to one of the specialized therapies such as occupational, physical, manual arts, corrective, or educational therapy; or experience gained as an assistant or aid in patient care, social work, or psychology where the duties involved actual participation in physical medicine and activities of a hospital or clinic. In addition to meeting the above Individual Occupational Requirement (IOR) AND Time-In-Grade, applicants must also meet the experience directly related to this position. Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-05 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Experience in missions, organizations, programs, and requirements of health care delivery systems in meeting the goals and objectives of the residential programs in order to assist Veterans recovery. Experience with patient demographic trends, and an awareness of strengths and interests of the clinical staff in order to meet goals and objectives of the residential programs. Experience in mental and psychological dysfunctional states and counseling methods in order to provide treatment for recovery. Experience with psychiatric conditions and their treatment/care provided in order to assist Veterans' recovery. Experience with alcohol and drug dependence and the rehabilitation process in order to assist Veterans' recovery. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: CommunicationCompliance InspectionCustomer Service (Clerical/Technical)Patient CareTherapy and Counseling Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Physical Requirements: The work requires regular walking, occasional lifting, and moderately strenuous activity may be required. The position may require physical assistance of patients including lifting in an emergency such as a fall. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

Education

There is no educational substitute for this grade level.

Contacts

• Address GV Sonny Montgomery VAMC 1500 East Woodrow Wilson Drive Jackson, MS 39216 US
• Name: April Hightower
• Phone: 228-337-7346
• Email: [email protected]