The Hines VA Hospital is currently recruiting for a Lead Peer Specialist located within Hines VHA Patient Experience Service to promote veteran-centered care and continuous engagement with Veterans. This position functions as an interdisciplinary team member, assisting leadership in understanding Veterans experience, innovating ways to deliver care more effectively and providing support to Veterans. The Lead Peer Specialist is a subject matter expert and leader in peer support services.

Duties

The Lead Peer Specialist in Patient Experience position is divided into Lead Peer Specialist duties (25%) and Peer Specialist duties with the assignment area in Patient Experience (75%). Lead Peer Specialist duties include: being a mentor for peer support staff by both coordinating peer support services and supporting team cohesion and recovery within the team; being an active member of committees and supporting peer support services and program initiatives; coordinating work efforts of peer support staff; serving as the operational peer support services Subject Matter Expert (SME) which requires presenting about peer services at meetings and townhalls, developing trainings relevant to peer support services and disseminating current national policy and guidance to the team; representing peer support services among hospital leadership, public events, and the community. Peer Specialist duties within the Patient Experience Service Line include promoting veteran-centered care and continuous engagement with Veterans. This position functions as an interdisciplinary team member, assisting leadership in understanding Veteran experience, leading veteran focus groups, participating on veteran councils, innovating ways to deliver care more effectively and efficiently, and providing support to Veterans who are challenged by the system. The position will involve preparing and giving presentations to stakeholders, collecting and incorporating feedback into Veteran experience related projects, and implementing recovery-oriented programs throughout the hospital. Overall, this position ensures a higher level of customer service is provided to veterans and works within an interdisciplinary team to better understand challenges with service delivery and to make changes to better veteran care. It is required for the incumbent to have interpersonal and administrative skills to organize peer support staff efforts to better service our veteran population. Promotion Potential: This position is above the full performance level. Work Schedule: M-F 8:00am-4:30pm, flexible administrative hours Telework: The VA supports the use of telework as a way to help attract and retain talented individuals in public service, increase worker productivity, and better prepare the agency to operate during emergencies. This position may be authorized for telework. Telework eligibility will be discussed during the interview process. Virtual: THIS IS NOT A VIRTUAL POSITION Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Position Description/PD#: Lead Peer Specialist/PDS0014S

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/29/2024. Time-In-Grade Requirement: Applicants who are current Federal employees and have held a GS grade any time in the past 52 weeks must also meet time-in-grade requirements by the closing date of this announcement. For a GS-11 position you must have served 52 weeks at the GS-09. The grade may have been in any occupation, but must have been held in the Federal service. An SF-50 that shows your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade. Note: Time-In-Grade requirements also apply to former Federal employees applying for reinstatement as well as current employees applying for Veterans Employment Opportunities Act of 1998 (VEOA) appointment. BASIC REQUIREMENTS: Citizenship: Citizen of the United States Statutory Requirements: Section 405 of Public Law 110-387, as codified in 38 U.S.C. 7402(b)(13), established that to be eligible to receive appointment to a Peer Specialist position, a person must: (1) be a veteran who has recovered or is recovering from a mental health condition; AND (2) be certified by - (a) a not-for-profit entity engaged in peer specialist training as having met such criteria as the Secretary shall establish for a peer specialist position; OR (b) a State as having satisfied relevant State requirements for a peer specialist position Length of Experience as a Consumer of Mental Health Recovery Services: Veterans eligible under 38 U.S.C. 7402(b)(13) must have spent a minimum of 1 year in personal recovery from a mental health condition. Specialized Experience: You must have one year of specialized experience equivalent to at least the next lower grade GS-09 in the normal line of progression for the occupation in the organization. Examples of specialized experience would typically include, but are not limited to: Specialized experience is progressively responsible, post-personal mental health recovery experience as a mentor providing counseling to support peers in mental health and/or addiction recovery, a recovery advocate directly involved with consumers of mental health services, a psychiatric therapy aide, or equivalent work involving in-person communication to support others in mental health recovery. At this level work will have been performed with considerable independence and you are responsible for making recommendations to the interdisciplinary treatment team that can be relied on for soundness of judgment and maturity of insight on problem cases. You will be rated on the following Competencies for this position: 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; religions; 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. Note: A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. 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. Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary. Typically, the employee sits to do the work. There may be some walking, standing, bending, carrying of light items (such as books, papers) and accessing transportation. The work may require occasional use of Department of Veteran's Affairs approved behavioral management techniques with Veterans who present a danger to self or others. 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

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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 Edward Hines Junior Hospital 5000 South 5th Avenue Hines, IL 60141 US
• Name: Amy McCrary
• Phone: (708)953-5124
• Email: [email protected]