Job opening: Senior Social Worker - Suicide Prevention Coordinator
Salary: $100 562 - 130 727 per year
Published at: May 31 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
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
VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU
Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf
This position is that of a Senior Social Worker for the Suicide Prevention Program at the VA - Pacific Islands Health Care System. The incumbent is able to make complex and independent clinical judgements as demonstrated by at least two years of specialized social work practice. The Suicide Prevention mission is to identify, engage, and track those veterans who are at high risk for suicide. In addition, the Suicide Prevention Program utilizes a Public Health approach to suicide by increasing public awareness as well as collecting and trending data about suicide attempts and completions. The Suicide Prevention Coordinator (SPC) facilitates the implementation of suicide prevention strategies at the local level through education, monitoring, and case management activites. The SPC functions as a coordinator of care of veterans at suicide risk and an advisor to facility leadership, program managers and staff concerning suicide prevention strategies for individual patients, for the facility and veteran community as a whole.
The SPC is primarily responsible for assessing veterans for suicide high risk, diagnosing mental health and high risk factors related to suicide and suicide prevention, and providing treatment options. The incumbent also has teaching and orientation responsibilities regarding suicide prevention program requirements. The SPC is responsible for assisting with tracking and reporting all suicide attempts and completions at the facility. The SPC is responsible for responding to Consults from the VA National Veteran's Crisis Line. S/he is responsible for continued contact and monitoring of veterans who have been identified as high-risk for suicide to assure continued care and treatment. The SPC ensures that patients identified as being at high risk for suicide receive follow up for any missed mental health and substance abuse appointments in conjunction with the clinical treatment team, and the follow-up is documented in the electronic record. The SPC will provide consultation and guidance to colleagues, including local and state suicide prevention organizations and local Veteran Service Organizations. There may be other duties in relation to suicide prevention assigned to the SPC.
Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. 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)
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
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
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.
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.
Grandfathering Provision: 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).
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.
English Language Proficiency: Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
Grade Determination:
GS-12 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:
(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, GS-0185, dated September 10, 2019.
Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019
The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.
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 Spark M Matsunaga Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center
459 Patterson Road
Honolulu, HI 96819
US
- Name: Frances Medina
- Phone: 000-000-0000
- Email: [email protected]
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