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

Social Worker duties include, but are not limited to the following: Coordinates & provides case management for Veterans in the Community Living Center Care management responsibilities include case management, care coordination & social work provisions & supportive services for Veterans &/or their families Is a member of multiple interdisciplinary teams & is primarily responsible for assessment & completion of psychosocial assessments & completion of psychosocial portion of interdisciplinary care plans & Minimum Data Set (MDS) Participates in interdisciplinary treatment team meetings, cultural transformation actions & resident-centered care planning Interviews Clients & Conducts Psychosocial Assessments to establish facts about Veteran's situation, presenting problems, causes & problem impacts on Veteran's functioning & health as part of the comprehensive psychosocial assessment Interprets & explains VA's treatment & benefit programs Reviews subjective & objective data & makes clinical assessments that identify needs & strengths Uses clinical training skills, objectivity, insight & experience to interpret data & identify viable treatment options Assesses high risk factors, acuity & service needs Serves Veterans who may have frequent &/or severe crises, lack family or adequate community support networks, be poor at self-monitoring, frequently fail to comply w/ instructions & treatment, or have significant deficits in coping skills & require continuing professional psychosocial support Makes Psychosocial Diagnoses Independently evaluates client's situation, including Veteran's reaction & ability to cope & arrives at a reasonable conclusion Uses professional judgment & practices skills to make psychosocial diagnoses Assesses at-risk factors & develops preliminary disposition plans involving Veterans & families or significant others Plans Effective Treatment Develops psychosocial treatment plans w/ interdisciplinary team members; including psychosocial clinical treatment goals Makes initial & continuing decisions for using VA /non-VA services & referrals Implements Treatment Provides clinical services for Veterans & family members/significant others Provides individual/group counseling services; including psychotherapy Organizes community services for beneficiaries; develops/coordinates services Maintains current referral resource network Evaluates, Educates, Supervises, Coaches &/or Mentors Establishes relationship w/ Veteran; evaluates progress towards meeting goals & adjusts treatment plan as needed Maintains comprehensive documentation Manages quality control & evaluates professional services provided Participates educational activities, completes unit based in-services, & mandatory educational activities in a self-directed manner by deadlines Demonstrates positive, effective communication skills & professional behavior that promote cooperation & teamwork Practices good customer customer service & demonstrates VA I-CARE values Participates in unit-based quality of care performance improvement activities, unit based performance improvement measures & results Identifies problem areas by practicing evidence-based practices on unit Perform other duties as assigned 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 Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Relocation Incentive (Reassignment-sign on Bonus): May be Authorized for the highly qualified applicant EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact Michael Warner at [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: Ad Hoc telework may be available for the highly qualified applicant Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: PDGS-9-436-58832-O, GS-11-436-58833-O Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

Persons that haven't completed educational/certification/licensure requirements may be referred & tentatively selected but can't be hired until all requirements are met Basic Requirements Citizen Must be US citizen; non-citizens may be appointed if not able to recruit qualified US citizens English Language Proficiency Applicants must be able to speak/write in English Education Have a master's degree in social work from social work school fully accredited by Council on Social Work Education CSWE Graduates of social work schools in candidacy status don't meet this requirement until School of Social Work is fully accredited. Doctoral degrees in social work can't be substituted for masters degree in social work. Visit http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify social work degrees meet accreditation standards. Licensure. Persons hired/reassigned to social worker GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed/certified by states to independently practice social work at master's degree level. For info on current state requirements go to http://vaww.va.gov/ORHM//T38Hybrids Exception. VHA may waive licensure/certification requirements for persons who are otherwise qualified pending state prerequisites for licensure/certification examination completion. Exception only applies for GS-9 grades. Candidates must be licensed/certified for GS-11 grade & above. Supervisor, chief social work/social work executive provides unlicensed/uncertified social worker w/ written requirements for licensure/certification, including deadline license/certification must be obtained by & consequences for not meeting deadline when appointed. VHA social workers appointed to GS-9 who aren't licensed/certified when appointed must become licensed/certified at independent, master's level w/in 3 years of their appointment as a social worker. Most states require 2 years of post-MSW experience as a prerequisite to taking licensure/certification exam. VHA gives social workers 1 extra year to pass licensure/certification exam. Social workers must become licensed at independent, master's level w/in 1 year of meeting full state prerequisites for licensure in states, e.g. California, Washington, etc. where prerequisites for licensure exceed 2 years. Social workers who doesn't have a license to allow independent practice must be supervised by licensed independent practitioners of the same discipline who's a VA staff member & who has access to electronic health records Different states have different levels of licensure/certification, making it difficult for VHA staff to determine independent practice levels. Each state, Puerto Rico & the District of Columbia complete surveys identifying licensure/certification levels allowing independent practice. Copies of the surveys are on file in VHA Office of Care Management & Social Work Services & a summary spreadsheet of licensure/certification levels is available to social work professional standards board members to determine if a social worker's licensure/certification levels meet VHA qualification standards. All states except California use a series of licensure exams administered by ASWB; https://www.aswb.org/. ASWB is association of boards that regulates social work. ASWB develops & maintains social work licensing examinations used across US & is a central resource for information on social work legal regulations. ASWB offers 3 examinations: master's examination is generally used by states for independent licensure/certification practice levels, advanced generalist & clinical examinations are used for advanced licensure/certification practice levels. Differences between the master's & the advanced exams demonstrate the expectation that advanced practice social workers have a more sophisticated knowledge of practice theory and its application. Failure to Obtain License/Certification. All Social workers must actively pursue meeting state prerequisites for licensure/certification starting from appointment date. Failure to become licensed/certified w/in prescribed time limits results in removal from GS-0185 social worker series & may result in employment termination. Loss of Licensure/Certification. Once licensed/certified, social workers must maintain full, valid & unrestricted independent license/certification to remain qualified for employment. Loss of licensure/certification will result in removal from GS-0185 social worker series & may result in employment termination. Grade Determinations: The following criteria must be met when determining grade of candidates in addition to basic requirements for employment. GS-9 Experience, Education & Licensure. None beyond basic requirements AND Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, & Abilities, KSAs. Candidates must demonstrate the following KSAs in addition to above experience. 1) Ability to work w/ Veterans & family members from various socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, educational & other diversified backgrounds using counseling skills 2) Ability to assess psychosocial functioning & Veterans & their family members' needs & to formulate/implement a treatment plan, identifying Veterans problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills & assistance needed 3) Ability to implement treatment modalities in working w/ individuals, families & groups to achieve treatment goals. Requires judgment/skill using supportive, problem solving/crisis intervention techniques 4) Ability to establish/maintain effective working relationships & communicate w/ clients, staff & community agency representatives 5) Medical & mental health diagnoses, disabilities & treatment procedures fundamental knowledge: including acute, chronic & traumatic illnesses/injuries; common medications/their effects/side effects & medical terminology GS-11 Experience & Licensure Appointment to GS-11 grade level requires completion of minimum of 1 year of post-MSW experience equivalent to GS-9 grade in health care field or other social work-related settings, VA/non-VA experience & licensure/certification in a state at the independent practice level NOTE For appointment licensure /certification at this level please refer to license information found under Basic Requirements section above OR Education A doctoral degree in social work from a school of social work may be substituted for the required one year of professional social work experience in a clinical setting AND In addition to the GS-11 experience above, candidates must demonstrate the following KSAs. 1) Knowledge of community resources, how to make appropriate referrals to community & other governmental agencies for services & ability to coordinate services 2) Skill in independently conducting psychosocial assessments & treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational & diversified backgrounds 3) Medical/mental health diagnoses knowledge, disabilities & treatment procedures, e.g. acute, chronic & traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications/their effects/side effects & medical terminology to formulate treatment plans 4) Skill in independently implementing different treatment modalities in working w/ individuals, families & groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical & social problems to achieve treatment goals 5) Ability to provide consultation services to new social workers, social work graduate students & other staff about patients' psychosocial needs & impact of psychosocial problems on health care & compliance w/ treatment Preferred Experience: Social Work experience in a residential or medical facility. References: VA Handbook 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39 Qualifications continued in Additional Information section.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education. Transcripts must include your name, the school's entire name, can be unofficial transcripts, must have the name of the course, date course taken, grade received for the course, amount of credits earned for the course, date degree conferred, (if applicable), (name of degree received, (if applicable).

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 Fort Harrison VA Medical Center 3687 Veterans Drive Fort Harrison, MT 59636 US
• Name: Jeannie Wright
• Phone: (970) 263-6272
• Email: [email protected]