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

If you are not a current, permanent VA employee or Federal employee from another agency, you should apply under: CBST-12278559-24-AB. The Senior Social Worker - Suicide Prevention Coordinator (SPC) is a member of the Suicide Prevention Team (SPT) and works collaboratively in managing the daily operation of the Suicide Prevention Program (SPP). The SPC facilitates the implementation of suicide prevention strategies at a local level through education, monitoring, and coordination activities within VHSO catchment area. Duties include, but are not limited to: Enhanced Care Delivery: Ensures that enhanced care and services, including intensified treatment, safety planning, and follow-up care for missed appointments, are provided for high-risk Veterans. Collaborates with treating clinicians to assess risk and provide guidance about criteria for Patient Record Flags Category I - High Risk for Suicide (HRS-PRF) placements and ensures that high-risk Veterans are receiving appropriate care following their HRS-PRF placements. This may include making personal contact with identified high-risk Veterans (e.g., letters, face-to-face, telephone). Access and Referrals: Responds to referrals from staff members, the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL), and other touch points to ensure that at-risk Veterans immediately receive care and services. Responds to consults from the VCL within 1 business day of receipt and ensure consults are closed within 3 business days. Consult responses may include assisting Veterans with the enrollment process if they are new to VA, facilitating the resolution of the Veteran's needs identified in the consult and reassessing for any potential risk, and making consults to care team members as appropriate. Outreach and Awareness: Performs mandated outreach and awareness activities as a member of the SPT to increase awareness of suicide prevention best practices and to improve the public's understanding and knowledge of suicide risk factors, military culture, lethal means safety and the accessibility of available resources, such as VCL. Fosters awareness of suicide prevention, interventions, and postvention through promoting safe messaging in partnership with the public affairs office through interviews and public events. Builds relationships and collaborates with state and local governments, health care systems, community organizations, and other public and private institutions, stakeholders, and partners for the enhancement of suicide prevention among Veterans, their families, and communities. Education and Training: Engages in educational activities including, but not limited to, dissemination of clinical practice guidelines, educational materials related to suicide prevention, training both clinical and nonclinical staff within VA to identify and respond to Veterans who are at increased risk for suicide and providing training to community organizations and staff who have contact with Veterans (e.g. local SPP procedures, suicide prevention topics such as crisis response, safety planning, postvention, suicide risk screening and evaluation). Instructs VA health care providers how to report Veteran suicidal self- directed violence behaviors, including attempts, interrupted attempts, preparatory behaviors, deaths, and all self-directed violence behavior events of undetermined suicidal intent that occurred within 12 months of the date of notification. Program Administration: Serves as a facility subject matter expert (SME) and point of contact (POC) for matters related to suicide, including prevention, intervention, postvention efforts, education and outreach, and suicide behavior and death reporting; collaborate with other SPCs and VA at-large to share best practices through multiple touch points; and accurately document services rendered to improve the SPP overall. Tracking and Reporting: Ensures reporting mechanisms are implemented for all suicidal behaviors occurring within facility catchment areas; manage the Patient Record Flag Category 1 - High Risk for Suicide (HRS-PRF) process for all Veterans determined to be at a high risk for suicide; and review the nature of care provided using a combination of tracking and reporting tools. Ensure that information about facility programs and patients is accurately articulated to VA leadership including information about all suicide attempts and deaths with quality management teams and assisting facilities with the evaluation of care environments to prevent future suicide- related events on VA campuses. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 564-00674-F 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. 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. 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. 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. Examples of creditable experience include but not limited to independently assess psychosocial functioning, facilitate treatment plan with interdisciplinary team, provide case management and care coordination, links patient with services, resources, and opportunities, conducts assessment of at-risk patient to identify immediate needs, provides interventions independently for patient and families/care giver, provide range of interventions and treatment modalities, and provide consultation to staff about psychosocial needs of patients. 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. Preferred Experience: Comfortable in providing Mental Health Care through Telehealth modalities; Participates as a member of multi-disciplinary treatment team providing a full range of Mental Health Services; Skilled at multi-tasking, and working under pressure of multiple responsibilities with deadlines; Excellent customer service skills (internal and external customers). References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard. This can be found in the local Human Resources Office. The position is above full performance level, GS-12. Physical Requirements: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation. May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting, stooping, bending, pulling, and pushing. Operation of motor vehicle.

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 Fayetteville AR VA Medical Center 1100 North College Avenue Fayetteville, AR 72703 US
• Name: April Bookout
• Phone: 315-800-7297
• Email: [email protected]