Incumbent serves as a Senior Social Worker of Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Outreach Services at VA Central Iowa Health Care System and is responsible for program implementation. The central goal of HCHV programs is to reduce homelessness among Veterans by conducting outreach to those who are the most vulnerable and who are not currently receiving VA services.

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Major duties include, but are not limited to: Coordinates community-based services including information and referral from other VA programs, other government programs, and community agency programs. Provides outreach, training, and education to other areas of VACIHS and to external community partners about the specific needs of homeless Veterans, Housing First Approach, VA Homeless Programs, etc. Establishes and maintains relationships to strengthen cooperation between internal and external partners to enhance efficiency and effectiveness of delivering outreach services that include identifying, assessing, and referring homeless Veterans for other services. Develops process that demonstrates how community partnerships are managed and monitored and creates plan to manage outreach and engagement efforts within VA, street outreach throughout entire catchment, VA-supported partners (i.e. Grant Per Diem, HCHV-CR, SSVF, etc.) and non-VA supported community partners. Develops internal processes to identify and monitor Veterans with particular focus on Veterans who are unhoused but not yet interested in receiving services and Veterans who are not referred through established Coordinated Entry processes locally. Represents the VA Homeless Programs at community meetings related to homeless outreach and assists with community planning efforts (i.e. City of Des Moines plan for unsheltered individuals) and relays relevant information to the larger VA Homeless Programs team. Responsible for the coordination and monitoring of the Polk County Veteran By-Name-List (BNL) in collaboration with the local Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) administrator and community partners and will be responsible for facilitating the BNL meetings. Serves as the VACIHS Homeless Programs primary point-of-contact on local Stand Downs, participating on the planning committee, and serves as committee/subcommittee chairperson as assigned. Assists in coordinating the involvement of other VA staff members and outlining their roles in supporting Stand Downs. Assists in the coordination of the Department of Defense surplus clothing and materials for local Stand Downs and submitting funding requests to the Homeless Programs Office. Ensures efficient sharing of Veteran data and program information, as allowable under VA Privacy and Information Security polices and directives. This will include knowledge of HMIS and HOMES data standards, data sharing and privacy authorities, HUD guidance, and other applicable documents or established guidance. Serves as a subject matter expert surrounding HCHV Outreach and the homeless Veteran population such as local, VISN, and national policies and procedures. Identifies, participates in, and implements process improvement opportunities to reduce barriers, promote team building, and improve practices both within the VA and with external partners. Provides outreach, assessment, referral, and case management services to Veterans who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness. Veterans served are referred from various sources including homeless shelters, Homeless Consults, National Call Center for Homeless Veterans (NCCHV), coordinated entry systems, community partners, and self-referrals. Performs community-based outreach activities to engage with homeless Veterans. Communicates with all team members (including Veteran and caregivers) to convey clinically relevant information for the care of the Veteran. Enrolls and provides case management services as clinically indicated, with a special emphasis on those who are most vulnerable. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30am to 4:00pm Telework: Available - Ad Hoc as appropriate. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized 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). 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. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. Loss of Licensure or Certification. Once licensed or certified, social workers must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment. Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. 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, the candidate 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, Part II, Appendix G39 Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application.

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 VA Central Iowa Health Care System 3600 30th St Des Moines, IA 50310 US
• Name: Kelsey Petty
• Phone: 515-721-4423
• Email: [email protected]