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

HUD-VASH is an intensive case management program for chronically homeless veterans aimed at providing psychosocial services to veterans while preparing for and residing in stable housing through HUD's Section 8 voucher system. The HUD-VASH Senior Social Worker has specialized knowledge of practice related to the treatment of chronically mentally ill population, those with substance abuse disorders and those who have experienced chronic homelessness. Establishes and maintains effective working relationships and communicates with Veterans, staff, and other parties as appropriate. Serves as a liaison between Veterans and/or their families and VA and community resources to ensure thorough delivery of services. Communicates effectively both orally and in writing with people from varied backgrounds. Facilitates actions for community placements through collaboration with Veterans and their families as well as interdisciplinary treatment team members. Provides consultation and education to Veterans and their families regarding community resources, VA benefits, and specialty programs. Conducts psychosocial assessments and treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diversified backgrounds. Assesses psychosocial problems often at a time when the Veteran is experiencing crisis and provide short- term and long-term solution-focused counseling with Veterans and/or their families. Completes thorough assessments to determine the presenting problem, factors impacting the situation, and obstacles to treatment and/or follow through with recommended treatments. Implements treatment modalities, provide educational classes, and/or supportive groups for Veterans and families. Responds to referrals that typically originate from members of the interdisciplinary team, from Veterans and/or their families coming as walk-ins to seek assistance, and from community professionals. Provides consultation to other treatment team and staff members regarding psychosocial needs of Veterans and/or their families and the impact of the identified psychosocial problems on the Veteran's health care planning and compliance with treatment. Conducts 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 interventions used in the treatment of veterans with polytraumatic injuries, post-traumatic stress disorder, etc. Provides case management services to Veterans and their families throughout the continuum of care. Works in the community most of the time, away from main campus, without Social Work Supervision available when traveling and/or alone with a complex Veteran. Incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients. Determines priority for services and provide specialized treatment services. Coordinates the delivery of specialized psychosocial services and programs. Designs system changes based on empirical findings. Utilizes outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Provides case management with members of the outpatient interdisciplinary team and home and community-based services for a collaborative effort to meet the agreed upon goals for a Veteran's treatment needs and include liaison with community professionals. Provides subject matter consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in the specialty area, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. Teaches and mentors staff and students in the specialty area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or for specialty certifications. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am- 4:30pm 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. 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 #: 51100-A Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

***This is an open continuous announcement until September 27, 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: 2 years working with individuals experiencing homelessness or low income 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. The emotional demands can be stressful in working with the patient population and their families. A level of self-awareness is essential. This position requires a valid state driver's license and local travel to provide community-based care to Veterans. The position requires significant travel in the community, through use of a government vehicle or other individual arrangements, to meet with representatives/stakeholders who aid and support to Veterans in clinics, medical centers, Community Clinics, etc. 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]