The mission of ICMHR/MHICM services is to provide Veterans with a serious mental illness with intensive recovery-oriented mental health services that enable them both to live meaningful lives and in the community of their choosing. ICMHR Veterans have a diagnosis of serious mental illness, are inadequately served by clinic-based outpatient treatment and have high resource use including frequent hospital use and high vulnerability.

Duties

Works within the ICMHR/MHICM program as the ICMHR/MHICM social work lead. The incumbent will act as a consultant for ICMHR/MHICM social workers who serve Veterans with complex mental health, medical, co-morbid disorders or who display increased risk for mild to moderate disruptive behavior. The incumbent is also responsible for providing case management for a caseload of veterans in the ICMHR/MHICM program, many of whom may be at elevated risk for suicidal thoughts, behavior or active psychosis. Accompanies GS-9 & GS-11 social workers on home or community visits when Veteran has a complex presentation. The incumbent will model the advanced level of practice & provide consultation to less experienced social workers. The senior social worker will be assigned & independently manage more complex Veterans within their program area. Functions as the subject matter expert in addition to functioning as a lead social worker for their assigned team. Performs at least one or more of the following: process improvement tasks, supervision of social workers for advanced practice licensure or the graduate trainee program, act as a mentor for less experienced social workers, participate or chair committees or groups that impact social work practice &/or lead roll out of evidence-based practices. Expected to act as surrogate to the ICMHR/MHICM Program Manager, for CPRS purposes, cosigning notes/consults/orders & providing clinical guidance when appropriate or necessary. Responsible for providing clinical case management for a caseload of veterans enrolled in ICMHR/MHICM which also includes clinical responsibility. Provides evidence-based & recovery-oriented practices as part of the ICMHR program. Examples of practice include Social Skills Training (SST), Illness Management & Recovery (IMR), Motivational Interviewing & Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). Responsible for providing ICMHR/MHICM case management. Case management is defined as the provision of services by VA clinical staff to veterans with serious mental illness & includes all activities to provide appropriate treatment & resources to support Veteran's recovery & living in their communities. Participates in the ICMHR/MHICM Program conference calls & attends training offered by the National ICMHR/MHICM Program. Participates in program planning & development, advising the supervisor of shifting trends with caseloads & identifying the need for & making recommendations on program procedure or policy changes based upon work experiences. Works with VA Medical Center multi-disciplinary teams & community agencies to strive for developing more effective & efficient ways of delivering healthcare services to ICMHR/MHICM Program Veterans. Provides a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice which includes case work, individual, family & group education/counseling, discharge planning, case management & other services as appropriate. The incumbent is responsible for completing the following duties/responsibilities: Participates in the treatment planning process with other disciplines. The incumbent will provide measurement-based care. Utilizes psychosocial rehabilitation & recovery practices & other evidence-based practice models to promote Veteran engagement & self-efficacy. Participates in discharge planning with other disciplines as appropriate & will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely & appropriate. Provides consultation/education to veterans & families on community resources, advance directives & VA benefits. Acts as liaison between VA & community resources, to include marketing & public relation duties as needed. Provides a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice & with clinical supervision, which includes case work, individual, family & group counseling, discharge planning, case management & other services as appropriate. Addresses Advance Directives & Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of their work area. Coordinates treatment & communicate with the care lines to facilitate continuity of care for veterans. Participates in committee assignments, as deemed necessary by the service manager. Maintains data & statistical compilations to comply with JC, CARF, VA & medical center policy & procedures. Assists patients & their significant others with coping & dealing with the loss & grief experiences in disability, terminal illness & death. Participates in a rotation of on-call social workers, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on weekends. Performs other related duties as assigned Work Schedule: 800-1630, M-F Telework: Available for highly qualified c&idates. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 554-52280-A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: 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/. Grandfathering Provision. The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title 38 hybrid qualification standards. Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation. September 10, 2019 VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39 All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation. If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. § 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation. 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: Senior Social Worker, GS-12 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. 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. Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS 12. Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor, as the position requires sitting, standing, and walking. Some travel is required as the incumbent is required to conducted monthly active outreach in the community which may require traveling long distances.

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 Eastern Colorado HCS Denver 13611 E. Colfax Ave Aurora, CO 80045 US
• Name: Megan Link
• Email: [email protected]