The Albany Stratton VA Medical Center is currently recruiting for a Senior Social Worker. The incumbent will be the Veterans Justice Outreach Specialist whose responsibilities are to build new relationships and expand existing relationships with community treatment court judges, court personnel, district attorneys, public defenders, parole and probation, private attorneys, the federal legal system and VISN Regional Council to assist and serve veterans involved in the legal system.

Duties

VA Careers - Licensed Clinical Social Worker: https://youtube.com/embed/U_xC25QsN0w Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf Major Duties: The VJO Senior Social Worker is administratively responsible for clinical programming and daily operation of the program, as well as the management of program data. They work in conjunction with the Homeless Program Manager to coordinate clinical and administrative services which focus on Justice Involved Veterans. In addition, provides outreach to Criminal Justice systems to include incarceration facilities and courts. The VJO Senior Social Worker develops, and coordinates re-entry plans for veterans with relevant Corrections Parole and/or Probation staff and maintains linkages with appropriate VA services and outside resources as needed by the re-entry veteran population. The VJO Senior Social Worker position requires an advanced level of knowledge and understanding of the services and benefits available from community, State and Federal agencies. Teaches and mentors' staff and students in the special area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications. The VJO Senior Social Worker conducts justice-related staff development programs for mental health and other program staff and provides opportunities for staff to update their mental health professional knowledge and practice skills. The VJO Senior Social Worker meets with judges, officers of the court, correctional administrators, and staff on a regular basis to design and/or maintain appropriate policies and procedures required for each setting. S/he attends justice system staff trainings relevant to working with offenders and high-risk populations and represents the VA at community meetings, seeking or maintaining membership on relevant boards, councils, and task forces. Contacts include providers who serve Veterans by contract or formal agreement with the VA, government staff, social, financial, legal, health and mental health agencies, Veterans and/or their families/relatives, Veterans' conservators, friends, employers, landlords, police, attorneys, judges, and probation and parole officers. The VJO Senior Social Worker troubleshoots, and problem solves partnerships with state and federal corrections regarding identification and access to Veterans, and access to use of appropriate assessment information for re-entry planning. The Veterans Justice Outreach Social Worker works with justice system officials to keep written justice system reporting requirements to a workable minimum (e.g. addressing attendance in treatment and providing a brief progress summary and results of treatment toxicology outcomes, if any) and with other VA treating clinicians to establish court reporting processes that meet these requirements. Establishes a continuing relationship with the Veteran, evaluating progress towards goals and adjusting the treatment plan as appropriate. Meets with Veteran to assess accomplishments and re-establish goals. Monitors Veteran's progress, maintains comprehensive documentation, ensures expert diagnosis and treatment of clinical disorders, and shows competent discretion in decision to adjust treatment. Makes recommendations for care and changes to interdisciplinary treatment plan. Performs other duties as assigned Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized. Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications, or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade). 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 #: 49606-F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. 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 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. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. Physical Requirements. Applicants must pass a pre-employment physical exam/screening. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. GS-12, Senior Social Worker: Creditable Experience: The candidate must have knowledge of current professional social work practices. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics associated with current professional social work practice. The experience or education must be post-Master of Social Work (MSW) degree. Experience and education satisfying this requirement must be active professional practice, which is paid/non-paid employment as a professional social worker, as defined by the appropriate state licensing board. Quality of Experience: Experience is only creditable if it is obtained following graduation with a master's degree in social work and if it includes work as a professional social worker directly related to the position to be filled. Qualifying experience must also be at a level comparable to social work experience at the next lower level. 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. Individuals assigned as Senior Social Worker 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, 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. Assignments: For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. Preferred Experience: Experience in working with justice involved Veterans, Homeless Veterans, and community first responder; Public speaking and presentation skills; Driver's License Required. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39 dated September 10, 2019. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

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 Samuel S Stratton VA Medical Center - Albany 113 Holland Ave Albany, NY 12208 US
• Name: Yviana Martinez
• Email: [email protected]