This Senior Social Worker will also provide psychosocial assessment, crisis intervention, and case management activities in Primary Care, the neurology service, and enrollment, as well as assistance to the Care in the Community regarding transition of Veterans from one care setting to another.

Duties

Clinical Functions: Incumbent is a professional social worker assigned to the PACT SW program. The incumbent must use a high level of skill in assessing and treating the complicated psychosocial problems of Veterans and their families/significant others. Social work responsibilities include the assessment of psychosocial problems that cause distress, often impacting the health condition and creating barriers to care. These stressors can include adjustment to the current medical condition, untreated or under-treated mental health or substance abuse condition, economic instability, legal problems, and inadequate housing and transportation. Referrals typically originate from any member of the interdisciplinary team, from Veterans and/or their families who call or walk-in for assistance, and from community professionals. The incumbent must complete thorough assessments to determine the underlying causes of the presenting problem(s), the interpersonal and environmental factors impacting the problem, and its affect on the patient's ability and desire to comply with the treatment recommendations by the multidisciplinary team. The social worker will help the patient and family to understand the contributing factors to the problem(s), will discuss with them the pros and cons of possible short-term and long-term solutions, encouraging them to make positive and lasting changes to reduce stressors. The social worker will coordinate with VA staff and community agencies to assist in problem solving as needed. Case management with members of the outpatient interdisciplinary team is provided in order to coordinate a collaborative effort to meet the agreed upon goals for a Veteran's treatment needs and include liaison with community professionals regarding needed services for Veterans and/or their families. Services include but are not limited to interventions to increase access to care, including transportation assistance and Advanced Directives, economic assistance, including assistance with medical bills, financial aid services and strategies to increase income (employment, vocational rehabilitation, VA benefits, disability), and/or reduce expenses, find the appropriate housing for the patient's level of need (affordable independent housing, homeless shelters, group and family care homes, Veterans Homes, assisted living, nursing homes, respite care, hospice care) and order necessary services to assist with functional decline. Administrative Functions: The incumbent: (1) Will serve as a lead social worker regarding scheduling, clinical consultation, writing standard operating procedures and coordination of UCC services with other agencies and departments. (2) Is willing to serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility as deemed appropriate by the supervisor and Chief of Social Work Services. (3) Is mindful of keeping their supervisor apprised of problems and recommended solutions to problems encountered in the incumbent's area of responsibility. (4) Is responsible for furthering one's own professional growth through continuing education and for ensuring continuing education appropriate to the area of assignment. (5) Is able to provide assistance with the orientation and learning of less experienced social workers and, if interested, to serve as a field instructor for graduate level social work students. (6) Is able to demonstrate knowledge and skill in the use of software applications for drafting documents and data management as well as other computer systems in use by the VHA. (7) Is able to maintain a level of productivity and quality consistent with the complexity of the assignment and consistent with Social Work standards, Joint Commission standards, and facility standards. (8) Is willing to modify tour of duty as necessary to accommodate the needs of Veteran patients. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday Compressed/Flexible: Available Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized 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. 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/. English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). 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 the basic requirements for employment, you must meet the following grade requirements. Senior Social Worker,GS-12 Experience/Education: You 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: 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 you must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate the following KSAs: (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 Part II Appendix G39 Social Worker Qualification Standard dated September 10, 2019. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: The incumbent may be asked to perform physical tasks requiring standing, bending, stooping, kneeling, climbing stairs, and lifting up to 25 lbs.

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 Chalmers P Wylie Veterans Outpatient Clinic 420 North James Road Columbus, OH 43219 US
• Name: Marc Nicholas
• Email: [email protected]