The employee serves as a Therapy Assistant to support the recovery of Veterans in both the Substance Abuse Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Program (SARRTP) and the Mental Health Trauma Recovery Program (PTSD/RRTP). This position is located at the G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson, Mississippi.

Duties

***THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION, YOU MUST LIVE WITHIN OR BE WILLING TO RELOCATE WITHIN A COMMUTABLE DISTANCE OF THE DUTY LOCATION*** Duties include but may not be limited to: Interacts with Veterans in a supportive, therapeutic manner in between treatment activities; Provides psychosocial skills training and psycho-educational interventions, in groups and individually; Debriefs emotionally escalated residents by providing one-to-one verbal interaction; Provides a safe environment by performing hourly safety rounds, reporting findings to the treatment teams in a timely manner, documenting every shift and reporting significant findings; Responds to psychiatric emergencies ensuring the safety of the unit as well as the Veteran; Provides immediate face-to-face interactions and reports findings to the psychiatrist on call for follow-up recommendations; Responds to emergency situations and provides First Aid until emergency personnel arrive; Conducts formal safety, security, and privacy self-inspections of public areas, rooms, wardrobes, desk drawers, and medication lockers on an hourly basis; Conducts contraband inspections of the Veterans personal belongings during the admission process and randomly throughout their admission; Accompanies addicted Veterans on scheduled outings, which involve leaving the site; Identifies and reports data relative to more complex, non-routine situations including subtle changes in patient's behavior, condition, or variance related to neurological signs, vital signs or other parameters; Performs other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Rotating Shifts; Monday - Friday; Including weekends; Subject to change based on the needs of the facility. Recruitment & Relocation Incentives: Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet the following qualifications: ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY: In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. You must be proficient in basic written and spoken English in order to meet the requirements of this position. ~AND~ SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE: GS 6 - Possess at least one year of specialized experience that equipped me with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to perform successfully the duties of this position, and that is typically in or related to the Therapy Assistant. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-05 grade level. Specialized experience includes work as an assistant to one of the specialized therapies such as occupational, physical, manual arts, corrective, or educational therapy; or experience gained as an assistant or aid in patient care, social work, or psychology where the duties involved actual participation in physical medicine and activities of a hospital or clinic. Additional experience includes assisting with patient recovery from alcohol and drug dependence; working knowledge of psychiatric conditions and their treatment/care to assist patient recovery and documenting medical records. (Resume(s) must clearly support the required experience to be creditable. We will not make assumptions regarding experience.) -OR- SUBSTITUTION OF EDUCATION FOR EXPERIENCE (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Possess the successful completion of one-half year (9 semester hours) of graduate education with course work that is directly related to the position of this Therapy Assistant position. This education must have been obtained at an accredited college or university. NOTE: If you select this option, you must submit a copy of your transcript with your application. Education cannot be credited without documentation. -OR- COMBINATION OF EXPERIENCE AND EDUCATION (TRANSCRIPT REQUIRED): Possess theequivalent combination of directly related graduate level education and specialized experience, as described above. NOTE: Your experience must be fully documented in your resume (job title, duties, employment dates, and hours worked per week) and you must submit a copy of your transcript. You will be rated on the following Competencies as part of the assessment questionnaire for this position: CommunicationCompliance InspectionCustomer Service (Clerical/Technical)Patient CareTherapy and Counseling IMPORTANT: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. All experience listed on your resume must include the month and year start/end dates. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such employment. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religious; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. Physical Requirements/Working Conditions: The work requires regular walking, occasional lifting, and moderately strenuous activity may be required. The position may require physical assistance of patients including lifting in an emergency such as a fall. The work is normally performed inside Harbor House and other parts of the Medical Center. The employee works in an adequately lighted and ventilated environment. Observe normal safety precautions. For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/.

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: Recognition of Foreign Qualifications | International Affairs Office (ed.gov).

Contacts

• Address GV Sonny Montgomery VAMC 1500 East Woodrow Wilson Drive Jackson, MS 39216 US
• Name: VHA National Recruitment Center
• Phone: (844)456-5208
• Email: [email protected]