The incumbent serves as Supervisory Social Worker on the multidisciplinary team that is located in a community-based Vet Center that provides veterans with community outreach, counseling, therapy, treatment and direct services and referral to VA and community resources and community education regarding the problems and needs of the Veteran.

Duties

NOTE: Readjustment Counselors are multi-disciplinary and can be filled by: Social Worker, Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor, Marriage & Family Therapist, and Psychologist. Each discipline is announced separately and applicants must apply to the appropriate announcement for which they are qualified. The incumbent's primary responsibility is to provide clinical and administrative leadership, management and supervision of all Vet Center staff and all other professional, paraprofessional and nonprofessional staff assigned to work at the Vet Center and to plan, develop, implement, coordinate, monitor and evaluate all treatment services of the Vet Center. Additional duties and responsibilities include, but are not limited to: Major duties include but is not limited to: Conducts interviews and counseling with clients and provides social/psychological assessment and treatment to clients; crisis intervention and both short and long term services. Provides guidance and consultation to other team members conducting interviews, counseling, and therapy. Refers cases requiring outpatient or inpatient treatment to the VA Medical Center or Outpatient Clinic or appropriate referral services. Responsible for establishing, maintaining and conducting outreach activities with veterans, community and service organizations, business and industry, professionals and the public. Organizes both VA and non-VA resources and community services on behalf of veterans. Provides psycho diagnostic testing and psychological assessment to those clients who display clinically severe or unusual psychological disturbances. Conducts other client treatment; individual, group, conjoint and family therapy; biofeedback; relaxation training and other therapeutic intervention strategies. Develops and coordinates procedures and programs to facilitate optimum use of these resources and services by the hospital, by other agencies and by the individual members of the target group. Develops and maintains understanding and working agreements with other organizations and individuals sharing responsibility for the welfare of these citizens in the same geographical area. Provides direct social work intervention involving serious and complicated problems frequently encountered by veterans and their families or significant others. Emphasizes the development of collaborative efforts among a variety of community resources in effort to resolve these problems. Provides indirect services to target groups through advocacy work and negotiations with other service agencies. Possesses and effectively implements specialized knowledge and skill in working with veterans, with their families and with their potential resources in the community. Maintains special responsibility for familiarity with and development of community health care (both public and private) resources within a defined geographical target area and for maximizing the efficient and effective use of these resources by the target group. Serves as a major resources and consultant to the hospital in regard to resources in this target area. Provides direct service and assistance to hospital programs in order to facilitate optimum utilization of resources in the patient's re-entry into the community. Independently providing highly skilled readjustment counseling services to clients with difficult and complex problems of social, emotional and vocational adjustment. Organizing counseling groups and functions as facilitator or therapist for counseling groups. Provides guidance, consultation for team members conducting group counseling. Assists clients with applications for veteran's benefits and helping clients complete and channel VA documents and forms. Develops and maintains appropriate referral sources. Serves as the Contracting Officer Technical Representative for the fee/contracts program. Responsible for planning, implementation, evaluation and improvement of outreach, readjustment counseling and other clinical, therapeutic and treatment services delivered by the Vet Center. Responsible for program development, budget development and fiscal management, personnel management and resource utilization. Responsible for the initial and ongoing training program of the various mental health professionals in the Vet Center. Maintains timely and accurate computerized records of client interactions, assessments, treatment plans, and other information pertinent to client treatment, as well as personal daily work activity. Work Schedule: Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm; however, candidate may be subject to working evenings, weekends, and holidays Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Title/Functional Statement #: 687330A/Supervisory Social Worker 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/. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). Grade Determinations: GS-12 Experience In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Supervisory Social Worker, GS-12 Experience and Education: One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment. Candidate 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 Supervisory Social Workers must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and 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: Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines Knowledge of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement. Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services. Ability to provide staff training and development. Skill in interpersonal relationships in dealing with employees, team leaders, and managers. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard GS-0185/12 Veterans Health Administration. Physical Requirements: Light lifting (under 15 lbs.); light carrying (under 15 lbs.); reaching above shoulder; use of fingers; walking (intermittent); standing (intermittent); hearing (aid permitted); clear speech. The work is sedentary. Typically, the employee may sit comfortably to do the work. However, there may be some walking, standing, bending and carrying of light items like papers or books. No special physical demands are required to perform the work. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

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 Readjustment Counseling Service 120 SE 6th Avenue, Ste. 102 Topeka, KS 66603 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]