The Cincinnati VA Medical Center (CVAMC) is seeking a Senior Social Worker to provides clinical psychosocial and case management services to eligible Veterans and their family members to meet biological, psychological, social, and environmental needs.

Duties

The primary duty assignment is within the Assessment and Intensive Treatment (AIT) Division on the Acute Psychiatric Unit. The assignment is mission dependent and may include assignment to multiple sites or other social work coverage areas as defined by the social worker's supervisor and if needed to fulfill the mission of the Cincinnati VAMC. Duties and responsibilities include but not limited to: The Social Worker will practice in the Assessment and Intensive Treatment (AIT) Division on the Acute Psychiatric Unit, providing social work services and facilitating discharge planning through collaboration with Veterans and their families as well as the interdisciplinary treatment team members when Veterans are identified as needing continued mental health treatment. Incumbent will complete referrals to Non-VA community care Behavioral Health facilities for Involuntary Admissions. Covers social work needs for Veterans admitted to the Acute Inpatient Mental Health unit. Incumbent must be able to coordinate and participate in treatment plan development. Incumbent must have knowledge of the process for accessing and/or coordinating community-based services, including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, Non-VA, State and community programs. The Social Worker independently provides comprehensive psychosocial services, case management services, develops treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team. Must be able to independently complete mental health assessments, make diagnoses, screen for tobacco, alcohol and substance use disorders. Screen and complete Advance Directives. Incumbent must have strong knowledge of crisis interventions. Incumbent will complete programmatic consults as required and ensure that appropriate mental health follow up and services are coordinated. Incumbent will coordinate MH services throughout the VISN as clinically appropriate. Must possess a working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures, including acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology. Acts as liaison between VA and community resources, to include marketing and public relation duties as needed. Provides a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice which includes case management. Provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members. Provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plan. Facilitates referrals based upon Veterans needs and eligibility. Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned by the assigned Supervisor or Designee as needed for the benefit of the veteran, family, and quality of services provided. Additionally, the incumbent may be relocated to another office, or building, to include Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC), to support the mission of the medical center. Ability to provide clinical supervision for social work licensure or certification. Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 917772-0 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. 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. 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/. Driver's License: Must posses a valid unrestricted Driver's License 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. 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 such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. 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 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, Part II, Appendix G39, Qualification Standards for Social Workers. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

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 Cincinnati VA Medical Center 3200 Vine Street Cincinnati, OH 45220 US
• Name: Rhonda McCubbin
• Email: [email protected]