The Senior Social Worker, Suicide Prevention Coordinator (SPC) will be located at the Aleda E. Lutz VA Medical Center. The incumbent is responsible for interpreting policies, directives, regulations, guidelines, information letters, etc., from Veteran Affairs Central Office (VACO), Veterans Integrated Services Networks (VISN), and local facility leadership as directed for the Suicide Prevention Coordinator.

Duties

Total Rewards: 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 The SPC is a very complex assignment, working in the facility and community, to provide advocacy, training, and clinical consultation for the most vulnerable, high-risk patients. The SPC identifies Veterans at risk for suicide, tracking appointments and coordinating enhanced care as needed; educates providers, Veterans, families, and members of the community about risk factors and warning signs for suicide, and identifying treatment options. Duties include but are not limited to: Maintaining a list of Veterans determined to be at high-risk for suicide and monitoring their care to ensure that enhanced-care services are being delivered by treatment team/clinical providers. Tracking any no-show appointments by these Veterans and ensuring follow up as soon as possible to ensure safety and facilitate rescheduling the appointments. Maintaining awareness of suicide prevention treatment options and making recommendations to the Veteran's provider when new best practices become available. Consulting/collaborating with providers of high-risk patients for purposes of education and facilitating best practices. May optionally provide direct Veteran care for the same purpose. Recommending the implementation of Category I Patient Record Flags and monitors for completion of Suicide Behavior and Overdose Reports, Suicide Safety Plans, and all other required documentation. Responding to referrals from the National Veterans Crisis Line (VCL) and reports back to the VCL staff about the results of interventions when needed. Submitting Behavioral Health Autopsy Program and Family Interview Templates for Veteran deaths from suicides. Working closely with the VA and community resources such as Veteran Service Organizations and other community groups to assure that they are aware of how to recognize Veterans at risk for suicide and their options for getting these Veterans assistance. Developing and maintaining professional standards of service, coordination of suicide prevention services with other programs; representing the program in contacts with the community and having substantial accountability for program effectiveness and evaluation. Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm Monday - Friday Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized 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: Available on an ad-hoc basis Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 91642-0 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not Required

Requirements

Qualifications

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. Grandfathering Provision. All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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. 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. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: 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. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. 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. 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. 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. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Lifting and carrying light objects under 15 pounds using two hands is required. Walking up to two hours is required. The SPC will also need to have the ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination, correctable vision, hearing with or without aid, depth perception, ability to distinguish basic colors and emotional and mental stability.

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 Aleda E Lutz Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 1500 Weiss Street Saginaw, MI 48602 US
• Name: Elizabeth Troiani
• Phone: 407-631-8635
• Email: [email protected]