The Senior Clinical Social Work position is a non-supervisory position that reports to the Chief of Mental Health or a designee. The Senior Clinical Social Worker functions at the advanced license level, independently, and provides clinical psychosocial and case management services at an advanced practice level to eligible Veterans and their family members to meet biological, psychological, social, and environmental needs.

Duties

Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) Senior Social Worker will treat Veterans within the outpatient Mental Health clinic, practicing as a generalist of various mental health disorders. BHIP Senior Social Workers are an integral member of an interdisciplinary treatment team, which consists of other social workers, psychologists, psychiatrists, nurse practitioners, care managers, peer support specialists and clinical mental health pharmacists. Our BHIP teams work in close collaboration, with weekly protected team meeting times to develop treatment plans and ensure quality mental health care to our Veterans. The incumbent will be able to independently diagnose mental disorders, conduct psychological and/or cognitive screenings, and to provide psychotherapy. The incumbent should be able to determine which psychotherapy modalities and techniques are appropriate, and to provide various types of empirically supported psychotherapies, including cognitive-behavioral therapy, prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy, solution-focused, gestalt, family/ systems, interpersonal, etc. They consult with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues. SSWs may be involved in program evaluation and/or research activities. Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to: Diagnose mental disorders utilizing DSM-5 criteria and treat mental disorders through a variety of evidenced-based modalities Provides individual, family, and group psychotherapies and other interventions such as behavioral health and community interventions Consult with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues. Participates as an active treatment team member. Consult with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues. SSWs may be involved in program evaluation and/or research activities. Responsible for identification of patient problems requiring consultation with other multi-disciplinary medical center staff and making appropriate referrals. Assures that appropriate referrals to specialty programs, including community resources, are accomplished. This may include ordering the following consults: Mental Health Service Programs, (e.g., Substance Abuse, PTSD, Mental Health Intensive Case Management, Compensated Work Therapy, Homeless, and Residential Treatment) Vocational Rehabilitation, and Long-Term Care. Fully accountable for practice, including entering patient visits, appropriate clinical documentation, measuring outcomes to interventions, and meeting productivity standards. May be involved in the training of medical students, medical and psychiatric residents, fellows and other graduate or post-graduate trainees, as appropriate. Assist with the monitoring of clinical programs and outcome measurements within programs assigned using a data-driven quality assurance process. Responsible for the timely completion of all clinical charting and documentation required by the medical center and service line. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm. Tour subject to change based on agency needs. Recruitment/Relocation Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Authorized for highly qualified candidate. Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience. Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child. Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: F00816 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 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/Accrediation 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Senior Social Worker, GS-12: Experience and 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 judgement. 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 and 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, the candidate 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 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39 dated September 10, 2019; Social Worker Qualification Standards. The full performance level of this vacancy is a GS-12. Physical Requirements: Extended periods of standing, bending and carrying light items such as books, medical records and paper is required. Walking long distance throughout the medical center, on units and between divisions is required. Conducting patient encounters in a community setting or in the patient's home environment may be required. Position often places the incumbent in a position of stress. Due to the nature of the work, the incumbent may come in contact with Veteran patients who are confused, intoxicated or have a contagious condition. Ability to drive a car and have a valid state license is required. Exposure to dangerous situations in the community from traffic accidents to crime is also possible.

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 Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center One Freedom Way Augusta, GA 30901 US
• Name: Juanita Wilson
• Phone: (803) 647-2444
• Email: [email protected]