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

Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf Provides professional, independent, specialized mental health treatment to veterans who are diagnosed with Substance Use Disorders and who are experiencing a wide range of complex medical, psychiatric, emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial problems. Provides individual, group and family psychotherapy interventions used in the treatment of veterans with substance use disorders and comorbid mental health needs. Implements Measurement Based Care for measuring effectiveness of clinical practice and services in specialty areas, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Uses advanced clinical training, and experience to identify viable treatment options and makes appropriate referrals for care. Develops treatment plans in coordination with RRTP Team Members. Makes referrals to other services. Acts as a community and family liaison by initiating and maintaining necessary contact with the patient, his/her family, VA Healthcare System service programs and personnel, mental health agencies, and other related resource agencies. Assesses the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and family members. Interviews Veterans and their family members/significant others. Reviews data, subjective and objective, and makes a clinical assessment identifying strengths, needs, abilities, and preferences. Assesses high risk factors, acuity, and need for services. Assesses and documents identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and/or intimate partner violence. Participates in the professional development of colleagues through mentorship and teaching. Establishes and maintains education programs for Veterans, community agencies, students, and staff to facilitate understanding of counseling interventions. Advocates on behalf of the veteran that services and benefits are obtained in a timely manner. Receives and completes requests for services from interdisciplinary team members on complex, difficult cases. Utilizes crisis intervention techniques with Veterans who are in an acute crisis. Works with individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management interventions in the treatment of veterans. Employs Social Work methods and techniques to maintain a therapeutic relationship that will help the Veteran. Develops psychosocial treatment plans in coordination with interdisciplinary team members, including goals for psychosocial clinical treatment. Uses known available resources and the initial assessment of the Veteran's likelihood to accept differing types of assistance. Coordinates post-discharge services, including VA services and community-based services. Documents psychosocial assessments, diagnostic assessments, treatment, progress notes, follow up, and referral. Utilizes outcome evaluation to further treatment and designs system changes based on empirical findings. Utilizes MBC scores to monitor and track treatment progress. Analyzes MBC data and develop performance improvement project to improve treatment services. Analyzes MBC data to guide treatment plan modifications to ensure Veteran-Centered care. Provides specialized consultation to colleagues and students. Provides consultation regarding the impact of the identified psychosocial problems on the Veteran's health care planning, compliance with treatment, discharge planning. Provides oversight and clinical supervision for social work trainees. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am- 4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): May be authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized EDRP Authorized: Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more 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: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 59217-0 Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

***This is an open continuous announcement until July 19, 2024. Qualified applicants will be considered and referred as vacancies become available. *** Basic Requirements: Citizenship Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part). 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. Grade Determinations: GS-12, Senior Social Worker 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. AND 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. AND 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: VA and Substance Abuse Disorder experience. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39 Physical Requirements: Must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. Social Worker must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the social worker or others. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; and repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.

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 VA Western Colorado Health Care System 2121 North Avenue Grand Junction, CO 81501 US
• Name: Cory Carter
• Phone: 702-791-9000 X15094
• Email: [email protected]