Incumbent serves as the Program Coordinator and Supervisor for the Substance Treatment and Recovery (STAR) clinic at the Birmingham VA Healthcare System. The STAR clinic provides outpatient substance use disorder (SUD) treatment programming to veterans based on the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guidelines. The STAR Coordinator provides leadership, coordination, oversight, and integration to ensure the smooth and effective provision of recovery and rehabilitation services for veterans with SUD.

Duties

**THIS POSITION IS ONLY OPEN TO CURRENT BIRMINGHAM FACILITY EMPLOYEES** Duties of Social Worker Program Coordinator of the STAR Program: 1. Coordinates and supervises STAR Clinic programming including facilitating staff meetings, overseeing consult management, assigning intake assessments and case management duties, ensuring patient/staff safety, and evaluating environment of care. Insures seamless transition and continuity of care between inpatient and outpatient clinics and community referrals. 2. The incumbent provides administrative, clinical, and technical supervision to assigned staff. They are expected to set priorities and make assignments according to capabilities of those assigned. The incumbent evaluates subordinate's performance and offers instruction, advice, or counseling on ancillary services, and administrative matters. They are responsible for setting performance standards and reviews work to determine acceptable levels of quality and quantity. 3. Incumbent manages daily operations of the STAR Clinic; develops policies and procedures for the programs' operations; maintains data tracking utilization of mental health services by STAR Clinic Veterans and prepares reports and statistics when requested. 4. Make recommendations for promotion and review/feedback/disciplinary action of the clinical staff of STAR treatment program at the Birmingham VAMC. 5. Assign work to program team leaders/coordinators and review and evaluate performance of program team leaders/coordinators. 6. The incumbent develops training plans in-line with employee's needs and assists in addressing these needs. Develops and monitors standards of clinical practice/standards of care for STAR staff, including procedures, care guidelines, manuals, and guides to professional practice, required to accomplish clinical care interventions and ensures that they are followed. 7. Incumbent coordinates the facilitation of STAR Clinic groups and makes changes and additions to group curriculum to respond to needs of STAR Clinic Veterans. 8. The incumbent maintains a current knowledge to answer questions from team members on procedures, policies, directives and to obtain needed information on decisions from the Chief, Mental Health Service on major problems and issues. Incumbent checks on work in progress and reviews completed work to see that instructions on work sequences, procedures, methods, and deadlines have been met. 9. The incumbent effectively handles disciplinary issues and counsels employees regarding performance or other situations; takes disciplinary or appropriate action when necessary. 10. Incumbent contributes to ongoing development of the STAR program. Identifies areas for program expansion and improvement and develops initiatives to address these identified needs. 11. Incumbent provides direct screening, therapy and case management services to Veterans within the STAR clinic. Incumbent completes screening and comprehensive assessments of Veterans with substance use disorders and other mental health comorbidities. Provides evidence-based therapy for SUD and case management to veterans in the STAR clinic. This includes care coordination for mental health and medical services; monitoring Veteran status and functioning; crisis intervention and supportive counseling. 12. The incumbent is expected to be proficient in the use of tele-mental health technology (including related video/audio equipment, computer software, and faxing and copying technology) to deliver clinical services (assessment and interventions) efficiently and effectively to patients off site. 13. The incumbent will spend 50% of their time providing direct clinical services to Veterans and 50% providing clinical oversight, administrative leadership and supervision. 14. The incumbent provides clinical and administrative supervision and management of this program and assigned staff members (i.e. social workers, and Peer Support Specialist.) Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Mon-Fri, 7:30am-4:00pm Telework: Ad-hoc available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 52251F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. 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 (MSW) 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. Please note: A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work. Licensure. Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. VHA may waive the licensure requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of state prerequisites. English Language Proficiency. Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Regulations. 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). Must pass a background check. Grade Requirements: GS-13 Social Worker (Program Coordinator) Experience/Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidates may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience. Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities 1. Skill in coordinating and implementing one or more specialty program(s), across the facility. 2. Skill in local policy and practice development, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program as prescribed by the program handbook or national directive. 3. Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area(s). 4. Ability to collaborate with internal and external partners to further program goals and enhance patient centered care. 5. Ability to provide the full range of supervisory duties including assignment of work to be performed; performance evaluations; and selection of staff, training, and recommendation of awards, advancements, and when appropriate, disciplinary action. 6. Ability to oversee the fiscal matters of the functions supervised (including fund controls, contracts, and equipment expenditures), forecast resource and equipment needs, and administer the allocated budget. 7. Knowledge of organizational structure and impact on program operations. 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. At this grade level, social worker program coordinators oversee the administrative and clinical aspects of a major specialty treatment program, such as, but not limited to: Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Substance Abuse Treatment Program, Home-Based Primary Care, Mental Health Intensive Case Management, Caregiver Support Program or Transition and Care Management Program, or a combination of programs located at one facility or multiple divisions of a facility. They are responsible for coordinating interdisciplinary staffing, work assignments, budget, treatment services provided, and admission criteria for the program. The program coordinator may or may not have supervisory responsibilities. They have full responsibility for all phases of service delivery for a major specialty program. The program coordinator is responsible for the program's resource and fiscal management, monitoring control points developing the annual budget, operating within that budget, and accounting for appropriated funds. They are administratively responsible for the programming and operations of the program assigned, develop policies and procedures for program operation, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. Program coordinators provide leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned staff. They initiate and conduct program or service audits and complete designated clinical practice audits and reports, including productivity. Program coordinators oversee program operations and evaluations, identifying areas for improvement, gathering relevant data, assessing the data, developing and implementing ideas for improvement, and evaluating efficacy of improvement efforts.] References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is a GS-13.

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 Birmingham VA Medical Center 700 South 19th Street Birmingham, AL 35233 US
• Name: Jenna McCarthy
• Email: [email protected]