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

Incumbent is a social worker in the Polytrauma System of Care outpatient case management team. This includes working with Polytrauma Network Site (PNS) interdisciplinary team, the Amputation System of Care (ASOC) and the Transitional Care Management team in the VA Palo Alto Health Care System. To connect OEF/OIF and recently transitioning veterans who are registered with the VA Palo Alto Health Care Center to mental health and healthcare services. This includes high quality case management, clinical treatment, advocacy, and coordination of linkages to other appropriate VA or community service providers / agencies as needed by the client. Major duties include but not limited to: PSC Senior Social Worker performs specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness in returning OEF /OIF, recently discharged SM from active duty and Polytrauma patients. Incumbent incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. PSC Senior Social Worker provides individual, group, and family psychotherapy and advanced level case management interventions used in the treatment of veterans with polytraumatic injuries, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, visual impairment, post-traumatic stress disorder, addictions, and/or other serious mental health and medical disorders. PSC Senior Social Worker develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Incumbent is able to demonstrate the ability to design changes based on empirical findings. Senior Social Worker offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in specialty area, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. Demonstrates the ability to teach and mentor staff and students in the special area of practice. PSC Senior Social Worker administers information and analytical systems to evaluate and enhance the quality of service provided to patients. Develops and implements information systems to track service activities including visits, referrals, inpatient days, patient demographics, equipment utilization and patient satisfaction. Develops implements and evaluates clinical guidelines and protocols to establish appropriate utilization of services. PSC Senior Social Worker manages the daily operation of direct patient care services in the program area. The incumbent manages the daily operation of the program, develop policies and procedures f or program operation and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. Incumbent may be responsible for the program's budget and various control points assigned to the program within the assigned areas. The incumbent manages and controls the use of data related to these programs regarding day-to-day functioning and program evaluation in collaboration with the Director of the Program and/or with the Supervisory Social Worker. Incumbent is the Senior social worker on with the TCM social work team and the PNS interdisciplinary team and is responsible for the identification, screening, assessing, evaluating, proposing treatment recommendations and triaging of eligible returning combat service members/veterans to appropriate care throughout all the facilities within VISN 21 (major medical centers and the respective CBOCs ). Incumbent works on an interdisciplinary team consisting of a Registered Nurse case manager, Occupational Therapist, Physical Therapist, Speech-Language Pathologist, Psychologist, Physiatrist, Prosthetist/Orthotist, Family Therapist, Recreational Therapist and Blind Rehabilitation Specialist. Incumbent works on a TCM team consisting of social workers based throughout the Palo Alto VA healthcare system. The incumbent independently interviews service member/veterans to assess their presenting problems and their causes, and the impact of such problems on their functioning and health as part of a comprehensive psychosocial assessment. Interprets and explains VA' s treatment and benefit programs. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM. Telework: Not Available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 02801F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. EDRP Authorized: Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. Financial Disclosure Report: Not required.

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. 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. English Language Proficiency: Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j, this part. 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-12Experience/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: (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 Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor. The work is primarily sedentary, although the stress involved in dealing continually with persons in emotional distress and who may be uncooperative makes this work notably more demanding than most sedentary jobs. Requires driving.

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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Palo Alto VA Medical Center 3801 Miranda Avenue Palo Alto, CA 94304 US
• Name: Tyler Jennings
• Phone: 775-486-3377
• Email: [email protected]