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. Program 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

This Social Worker position is in Social Service at the VA Boston Healthcare System located at the Jamaica Plains, MA campus. This position is full time at 40 hours per week. The incumbent independently provides case management and psychosocial support services to eligible Veterans and their family members to meet biological, psychological, social, and environmental needs at an advanced practice level within the specialized area of Hematology, Oncology, Palliative Care and Infectious Disease. Veterans treated come primarily from the VA Boston catchment area but may come from outside the catchment area for specialized treatment. Their healthcare and psychosocial problems and needs are complex and require a high degree of clinical oversight and creative problem solving. The incumbent is required to interact not only with the patient but also family, significant others, community agencies, and other staff. The duties include but are not limited to: The incumbent independently performs case finding functions and outreach, identifying and screening patients for psychosocial needs. The incumbent independently conducts goals of care discussions. The incumbent will develop an assessment of the veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the veteran, family members and significant others. Psychosocial assessments are conducted for individuals from various socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diversified backgrounds. The goal of the assessment is to highlight the veteran's strengths, limitations, and internal/external supports and service needs to optimize the veteran's functional status. The incumbent must possess advanced knowledge of human development and behavior (physical and psychological) and the differential influences of the environment, society, and culture. The incumbent must demonstrate a mastery of theories and treatment modalities used with this complex population, an ability to diagnose and incorporate differential diagnoses and treatments, and an ability to work with patients and families who are experiencing basic emotional, medical, and social problems utilizing advanced and specialized interventions and treatment modalities including individual, group, and family counseling. The initial assessment will be completed as specified by the policy for the assigned work area. The incumbent completes a psychosocial assessment, a psychosocial diagnosis, or any information-gathering process with a patient to be especially attentive to risk factors, and to verbally and/or in writing call attention to treatment staff of such factors and ensure they are addressed. The incumbent will also function as a subject matter expert providing education, consultation, and mentoring to other clinical personnel and students to be sensitive and responsive to risk factors, as necessary. The incumbent assesses the safety of the home situation of veterans through interviews with veterans and their family or friends and reports abuse and neglect or other unsafe situations to Adult Protective Services or Child Protective Services as appropriate. VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8am- 4:30PM Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: Maybe authorized at supervisor's discretion. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. EDRP: Authorized - Contact Karen Chapman [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions or assistance on how to begin the application process. Learn more. Functional Statement #: F1046 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required NOTIFICATIONS: This position is in the Excepted Service. This position is a AFGE Bargaining Unit position. Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. Due to a critical staffing shortage, 38 U.S.C. § 7412 waives the requirement to apply Veterans' preference for this job announcement. Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment. Current and former Federal employees must submit copies of their most recent SF-50, (Notice of Personnel Action). The SF-50 must identify the position title, series, grade, step, tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted). In some cases, more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held. Selectee may be required to work at any Boston healthcare System campus as needed.

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, . 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 the CSWE website to verify if that social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a Master of Social Work. Licensure. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level and must be able to provide supervision for licensure. English Language Proficiency. Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j. Grade Determinations/Minimum Qualifications for GS-12 (1) Experience and 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. (2) 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. (3) 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. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39 - Social Worker Qualification Standard The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Traveling throughout the Medical Center and CBOCs is required. 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. Applicants 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 applicant or others.

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 Boston Healthcare System 940 Belmont Street Brockton, MA 02301 US
• Name: Diane McClure
• Phone: 774-826-4912
• Email: [email protected]