Senior Social Worker has experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. At least two years should be in an area of specialized social work practice. Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included a clinical examination.

Duties

The advanced practice social worker can be further differentiated from the independent practice social worker by the incumbent's ability to expand clinical knowledge in the profession, provide consultation and guidance to colleagues on complex clinical matters, model effective social work practice skills, teach or provide orientation to less experienced social workers, and develop innovations in practice interventions. The Senior Social Worker has subject matter expertise in eating disorders treatment as well as Women's Health, ambulatory care and integrated healthcare. Incumbent requires training in providing services and support for women veterans regarding eating disorders. The incumbent in this position will require a high degree of clinical knowledge and experience dealing with highly complex health or mental health problems, adjustment to loss, social drivers of health care, elder abuse, self-neglect, dual diagnosis, intimate partner violence, substance use and other factors. The Senior Social Worker has advanced practice skills to provide specialty care for complex, unique needs of woman veterans and gender-based care, as well as to provide consultation on complex cases and disposition issues to other social workers and to interdisciplinary staff. The incumbent is able to provide individual, group, and family psychotherapy and advanced level case management interventions used in the treatment of veterans with eating disorders, as well as co-occurring disorders and other serious medical concerns. Incumbent will be able to provide insight and guidance to staff working throughout the medical center as well as assist in system changes to best meet the needs of the medical center and the patient. The incumbent performs specialized interventions in the treatment of veterans enrolled in the WHC. The incumbent incorporates case management, psychosocial assessments and psychiatric diagnoses within approved scope of practice. Incumbent will serve as a resource to patients seeking psychosocial support, including options and education. Incumbent screens each patient for advance directives, provides education and assists with completion of documents or changes to documents. Screenings and documentation will be completed as specified by the policy for the assigned work area. Incumbent has advanced goals of care discussions with team, patient and family as needed and as appropriate within scope. Assists with identifying decision makers in absence of advance directives. The incumbent develops, implements, and maintains methods for accessing internal and external resources for veterans and family members. The incumbent develops, promotes and maintains ongoing cooperative relationships with community, civic, academic, legal, social services and health care organizations. The incumbent serves as a primary source for information for staff and maintains resources to assist other team members. The incumbent provides clinical guidance on complex psychosocial matters and offers consultation to colleagues on the psychosocial needs of patients. The Senior Social Worker models effective social work practice skills. Independently provides consultation services to medical center staff regarding the psychosocial needs of veterans, the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plan. Incumbent serves as a mentor to new staff who join the WHC SW team and provides orientation to social workers throughout service on role of WHC social workers at JBVAMC. The Outpatient Senior Social Worker acts as a Training Instructor or Preceptor for students accepted within the SWS- Health Profession Trainee Program. The incumbent participates on service, medical center, community or VHA committees as needed to be relating to eating disorders, treatment and social work. Provides insight on processes, policies, and external factors that affect patient outcomes based on experience and expertise in social work field. Required: LCSW Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm. Telework: Not Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation Incentives: Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: The basic requirements for employment as a VHA social worker are prescribed by statute in 38 U.S.C. 7402(b)(9), as amended by section 205 of Public Law 106-419, enacted November 1, 2000. To qualify for appointment as a social worker in VHA, all applicants must meet the following: Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part). 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 Master of Social Work. Transcript Required 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/. License must be submitted Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. 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. Transcript Required 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. License must be submitted Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: 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: September 10, 2019, VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39 The full performance level of this vacancy is a GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

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 Jesse Brown Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 820 South Damen Avenue Chicago, IL 60612 US
• Name: Valerie Kelly
• Phone: 773-946-3802
• Email: [email protected]