This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

Duties

This Social Worker is assigned to a Community Based Outpatient Clinic at VA Puget Sound Health Care System located in Washington with responsibility to provide direct services for Veterans, their families and caregivers. Duties will include: The individual will conduct psychosocial assessments to determine needs of veterans and family members. The individual is an active participant in the treatment planning process with other disciplines. The individual will participate in discharge planning with other disciplines and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely and appropriate. The individual will provide individual, family and group counseling as appropriate. The individual will provide consultation/education to veterans and families on community resources, advance directives and VA benefits. The individual will act as a consultant to other team/staff members. The individual will provide consultation/education to staff on social work practice and VA policy and procedure. The individual will act as liaison between VA and community resources, to include marketing and public relation duties as needed. The individual will provide case management to veterans and families, as needed, throughout the continuum of care. The individual will provide a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice which includes case work, individual, family and group counseling, discharge planning, case management and other services as appropriate. The individual will address Advance Directives in accordance with the standards of their work area. The individual will provide wellness/prevention education and facilitate Patient/family support groups as appropriate. The individual will as appropriate, supervise the practice of social work students, or a less experienced social worker. The individual will coordinate treatment and communicate with the care lines to facilitate continuity of care for veterans. The individual will participate in committee assignments, as deemed necessary by the service manager. The individual will maintain data and statistical compilations to comply with The Joint Commission, VA and medical center policy and procedures. The individual will assist patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability, terminal illness and death. The individual will document social work interventions and activities in patient's clinical record and ensure appropriate hand off when transferring of patient care. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible:Not available Telework: Ad-Hoc, as determined by agency or department policy Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized EDRP Authorized: Please contact the VISN 20 EDRP Coordinator @ [email protected] Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this 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. 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 masters of social work. Transcripts with confer date 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/. 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: GS-12 Senior Social Worker Experience and 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: 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, the candidate must demonstrate all of 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. Preferred Experience: Medical social work, case management, and interdisciplinary team experience. References: VHA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G39, Qualifications for Social Workers The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: moderate lifting and carrying (15-44 lbs), pushing (6 hrs), ability to distinguish basic colors, hearing (aid may be permitted), environmental factors: being outside and inside, working with others, working alone.

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 VA Puget Sound Health Care System 1660 South Columbian Way Seattle, WA 98108 US
• Name: Michelle Yahne
• Phone: 503-220-8262 X53055
• Email: [email protected]