The Senior Social Worker's primary duty assignment is within the Outpatient Mental Health Division (OMHD) and may be located at the medical center or at a Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC). The assignment is mission dependent and may include assignment to multiple sites or other social work coverage areas as defined by the social worker's supervisor and if needed to fulfill the mission of the Cincinnati VAMC.

Duties

The Senior Social Worker is assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. They are also assigned in settings where they have limited access to social work supervision, such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. They may be assigned to work with special patient populations with highly-complex health or mental health problems requiring expert level psychosocial interventions. The position of Senior Social Worker is the full performance level. Social workers at this level are licensed or certified to independently practice social work. Employees provide professional, independent social work services in the assigned area. Duties include but are not limited to: Assess and document identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and/or intimate partner violence. Use clinical social work skills and knowledge to maintain Veteran privacy and confidentiality per policies, handbooks or directives. Act as an advocate with appropriate VA and community service providers and agencies when it serves the best interest of the Veteran and family members/caregiver. Independently assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members, identifying the Veteran's strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and psychosocial acuity. In collaboration with the Veteran, family/caregiver, and interdisciplinary treatment team, the social worker facilitates the delivery of health care services. Provide case management and care coordination to facilitate appropriate delivery of health care services, incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of Veterans, to include making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. Conduct timely assessments of at-risk Veterans in crisis to identify immediate needs, evaluate risk, and initiate safety plan as appropriate. Provide interventions independently with Veterans and their families/caregivers who are experiencing a wide range of complicated medical, behavioral health, financial, legal, and psychosocial problems. Provide a range of interventions and treatment modalities which may include individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy. Independently formulate and implement a treatment plan including measurable, achievable goals identifying the Veterans' needs, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and psychosocial acuity. Serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility and VISN level or in the community. Provide subject matter consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of Veterans offering professional opinions based on experience, expertise and role model effective social work practice skills. Establish and maintain ongoing education programs for Veterans, community agencies, students, and staff, to facilitate understanding of social work interventions specific to the Veteran/Military population. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Telework: Yes, Adhoc Only Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Position Title/Functional Statement #:Social Worker PD91202A Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 07/25/2024. Senior Social Worker, 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: 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. Assignments: For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. References: The qualification standard for the GS 12 social worker as defined in VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard GS-185 Veterans Health Administration. 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/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position involve active listening, reading, observing and evaluating verbal and nonverbal behavior, walking, speaking, documenting, and using office equipment such as computers, telephones, fax machines, and photocopy machines. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

Education

There is no educational substitution at this grade level.

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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.

Contacts

• Address Cincinnati VA Medical Center 3200 Vine Street Cincinnati, OH 45220 US
• Name: Jennifer Cuyler-Leath
• Email: [email protected]