This Senior Social Worker is the Coordinated Entry (CE) Specialist for Homeless Programs in Mental Health services at the VA Maine Healthcare System, located at the Togus, ME location. This position is a Full-time at 40 hours per week. Due to a critical staffing shortage, 38 U.S.C. § 7412 waives the requirement to apply Veterans' preference for this job announcement.

Duties

The Senior Social Worker has experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgement in clinical services for homeless Veterans. This position enables VA homeless programs to fully collaborate with the community, including the Continuum of Care (CoC) and community partners, in the coordinated entry efforts within the State of ME. Duties may include, but are not limited to: Participate in CoC meetings and planning efforts which may include leadership roles within the CoC groups. Provide direct linkage from community services to VHA homeless program services through regular and consistent outreach and communication with community providers. Participate in case conferencing process within the CoC's coordinated entry system to help inform and facilitate referrals to VA programs such as HUD-VASH, SSVF, HCHV CRS, and GPD. Ensures efficient sharing of Veteran data and program information, as allowable under VA Privacy and Information Security policies and Directives. This will include knowledge of HMIS and HOMES data standards, data sharing and privacy authorities, HUD guidance, and other applicable documents or established guidance. Participate and contribute to a CoC level resource-and-demand analysis, including periodic review of the gaps to determine inflows/outflows, and make recommendations to VHA homeless program leadership on adjustments to resource allocations within coordinated entry based on this analysis. Provide support to the VA homeless program teams as a functional member of the team, to include participation in outreach activities and consultation on community involved interventions for homeless Veterans. This includes overseeing HCHV participation with our Mental Health Same Day Access team and coordinating a system to respond to National Homeless Call Center Referrals and CPRS Homeless Consults. Serve as a member of a multidisciplinary homeless program treatment team to link treatment team discussions to case conferencing discussions. Collaborates with the Suicide Prevention team and takes part in the Medical Center's Disruptive Behavior Committee. Provide all necessary assessment functions in the service provision for homeless Veterans, e.g. interviewing, psychosocial histories and assessments to aid in the development of treatment plans as well as case conferencing discussions and planning. Develop partnerships with community agencies with regular contact and communication. Participate in policy formulation with HCHV and homeless program leadership to ensure that other VA homeless staffs are trained as needed on coordinated entry processes and tools. Provide appropriate clinical documentation for all contacts with or about Veterans who are engaged through outreach services. Provide clinical services and appropriate clinical documentation for homeless Veterans encountered through the community's coordinated entry system or other service access points. Ensure timely and accurate entry into VA data systems such as HOMES and the review the data to improve performance and delivery of services to homeless Veterans. Provide recovery-oriented and housing first services, with the goal of establishing the Veteran independently in the community at the Veteran's highest level of functioning. Work Schedule: Full-time; Monday - Friday; 07:30am-4:00pm Telework: VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 402-F05919 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required NOTIFICATIONS: Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held. Veterans' preference does not apply for other current permanent Federal agency employees. This position is an AFGE Bargaining Unit position. This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay. Travel and relocation expenses are not authorized. This position is in the Excepted Service. May be required to attend conference at other facilities or other VA sites on occasion. Selectee may be required to work at any VA Maine Healthcare System campus, as needed. The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA campuses and CBOC's. Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) will be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment.

Requirements

Qualifications

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). Senior Social Worker GS-12 Experience: 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 and 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. 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: VA HANDBOOK 5005, PART II, APPENDIX G39 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Handbook 5019.

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 Togus VA Medical Center 1 VA Center Augusta, ME 04330 US
• Name: Melissa Kumar
• Phone: 802-295-9363 X6509
• Email: [email protected]