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

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 Duties are but not limited to: The Veteran Justice Outreach/Health Care for Re-entry Veterans (VJO-HCRV) program was created to provide timely access to VA services for eligible justice-involved Veterans to avoid unnecessary criminalization and incarceration of Veteran offenders with mental illness. The VJO Specialists provide direct outreach, assessment, referral, and case management services to justice-involved Veterans in local courts and jails, and liaison with local justice system partners. The Veteran Justice Outreach activity will focus upon justice-involved Veterans in one of three circumstances: 1) at the front end of the justice system (jails or courts) (VJO), 2) upon prison reentry (HCRV), or 3) a hybrid model encompassing jail, court, and prison outreach (hybrid VJO/HCRV). The VJO Senior Social Worker identifies and interviews justice-involved Veterans in the appropriate setting to conduct needs assessment and determine appropriate referrals, linkage and coordination for VA and non-VA services to enhance function in the community, including in transition from jail or prison. The Justice Outreach Social Worker establishes a relationship with correctional medical and psychiatric leadership and personnel, where appropriate, to ensure continuity of care and for appropriate back-up, if needed, when encountering Veterans in a correctional institution. The Justice Outreach Social Worker may perform work in maximum, medium, or minimum-security correctional institutions usually under a no hostage policy. The Justice Outreach Social Worker observes established VA safety precautions while working in correctional facilities, and/or in community settings. There is ongoing exposure to individuals with psychiatric and physical illness and disabilities, which can include acute infections, violent or aggressive behavior, or chronic psychiatric and medical problems. The Justice Outreach Social Worker provides referral and linkage to VA medical and mental health treatment and to other VA services including VA benefits, as well as community-based social services and other non-VA entitlement programs. If appropriate, the Senior Social Worker provides referrals or consults to other VA programs, including Grant and Per Diem programs, Health Care for Homeless Veterans contract residential treatment, Domiciliary or Psychiatric Residential Rehabilitation Programs, or Compensated Work Therapy or Supported Employment programs. The VJO Senior Social Worker works collaboratively with the interdisciplinary team to develop a treatment/care plan with the Veteran and as appropriate the Veteran's family, caregiver and/or significant other, based on assessments. The incumbent will via the use of the mental health recovery model framework, note psychosocial problems in the interdisciplinary treatment/care plan, addressing factors that contributed to the Veteran's decline in mental health and well-being. The VJO Senior Social Worker coordinates referrals and consults for VA services and services from community-based agencies in collaboration with the interdisciplinary team members. The incumbent coordinates referrals of VA placements in Inpatient Behavioral Health Programs, Homeless Domiciliary, Adult Homes, Assisted Living Programs, Substance Abuse Programs, CNH, NHCU, and Residential Rehabilitation Programs etc... This includes reviewing the progress notes from the other providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each Veteran being referred for VA programs and community-based agency alternatives. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8 AM - 4:30 PM 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. 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: May be available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 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). 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. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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). Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade level. Senior Social Worker, GS-12 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. 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: (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. 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 is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. 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. Preferred Experience: Complex Case Management Brief Supportive and Psychotherapy Mental Health Criminal Justice Systems Working in Jails and Prisons Physical Requirements: The MHRRTPSC Requirements: Light Lifting (20 - 11 lbs. occasionally; 10 lbs. or less frequently); Light Carrying (20 - 11 lbs. occasionally; 10 lbs. or less frequently); Straight Pulling (up to 1 hour); Pushing (1 - 2 hours); Reaching above shoulder; frequent keyboarding (4-7 hours per day); Sitting (4-7 hours per day); Walking (up to 3 hours); Standing (up to 3 hours); Repeated bending (up to 1 hour); Ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; Correctable near sited and far sited Vision; Hearing (aid permitted). References: Reference can be found at the VA Qualification Repository, VA Qualifications Standards - Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) GS-0185, Social Worker Qualification Standard, dated 09/10/2019. The grade at which an applicant may be selected for 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/.

1. Accreditation Information: Please site specific the accreditation information from the qualification standards or use the generic description for all others. Example - Sample for LPMHC: The master's or doctoral degree must be fully accredited by the Council on Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs (CACREP). Verification of accreditation may be made obtained from http://www.cacrep.org/directory/.
2. NOTE: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application.
3. NOTE: If your school was accredited by at the time of graduation but is no longer listed on the website, you must provide documentation of accreditation with your application packet.

Contacts

• Address Dallas VA Medical Center 4500 South Lancaster Road Dallas, TX 75216 US
• Name: VISN 17 SSU USAS Group
• Email: [email protected]