Senior Social Worker serves as a core member of the interdisciplinary HBPC treatment team which is a specialized program under the administration of Patient Care Services. Primarily serves Veterans/Caregivers who would normally have received their care from the Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC).

Duties

Works independently and without access to social work supervision to provide expert level psychosocial interventions and case management services to veterans with complex medical, social and behavioral conditions in which routine clinic-based care is not effective. Incumbent utilizes advanced practice skills, knowledge, and judgment in developing and measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Coordination of specialized psychosocial services and programs is also provided. Some of the other duties include, but are not limited to; The incumbent will independently provide a comprehensive psychosocial assessment and integrates it into an overall plan of care in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the veteran, family members and others. The assessment required a home visit. Incumbent possesses the advanced practice skills to independently make a psychosocial diagnosis and offer psychosocial Interventions, and then measures outcomes to intervention. Incumbent is able to coordinate community-based services, from a wide spectrum of available resources requiring a brad knowledge base. Incumbent has expert knowledge of veterans' benefits and services relating to special programs, service-connected compensation, non-service-connected pension. Incumbent Independently identifies and prioritizes high-risk patients and provides case management services. Incumbent provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members. Incumbent is able to independently work with patients and families who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical and social problems utilizing individual, group and family counseling and therapy skills. Incumbent is experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans to maintain patient in the home, for admission to acute, short term and/or long term placements. Incumbent independently provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plan. Incumbent will provide the veterans and their caregivers with ongoing supportive counseling utilizing the advanced knowledge of and mastery of theories and modalities. The Incumbent will periodically review, update and write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the specialty population or specialty treatment program based on experience and evidence-based practice research. The Incumbent will collaborate in the performance improvement processes and support performance measures as required by the VA for their specialized population and/or program. The incumbent is accountable and assigned administrative responsibility for clinical social work program development and effectiveness, to enhance or modify services as needed based on program effectiveness outcome data, performance monitors, and client feedback. This may include coverage responsibilities in the absence of other staff to ensure timely access and coordination of care. The Incumbent will serve as a subject matter expert to colleagues, providing professional opinions and support for psychosocial treatment of this complex population when consulted. The social worker also serves as a mentor to other Social Workers, particularly those at the entry level, and provides clinical supervision for unlicensed social workers. Also supervises social work graduate student and provides a training experience for them in Social Work. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 7:30am to 4:00pm. 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: May be available as determined by the agency policy. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 30532F Senior Social Worker - Home Based Primary Care (HBPC). 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, 08/07/2024.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: Must 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/. (NOTE: For those who have a Florida LCSW license, you must be registered with the state as a "Qualified Supervisor" in order to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certification. All others must meet the requirements of their state of licensure to be able to provide supervision for licensure.) English Language: Must be proficient in spoken and written English Driver's License: A current, valid state-issued Driver's License is required for this position. NOTE: We cannot accept photographs, therefore; please do not submit a copy of your license with your application package. 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). All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation. If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. § 7401 (3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation. Grade Determinations: In addition to meeting the basic requirements stated above, the following qualifications criteria must be met in determining the appropriate grade assignment of candidates. GS-12 Senior Social Workercandidates must have the following: Experience/Education: Must have at least two (2) years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one (1) 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. While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge's Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAOs), you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position. Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training; otherwise, we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim. These are the KSA's for this subject position: 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 Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard. Preferred Experience: Two (2) years experience as a Senior Social Worker Care Manager. SELECTIVE PLACEMENT FACTOR (SPF)- This position includes a skill, knowledge, ability or other worker characteristic basic to -and essential for- satisfactory performance of the job. Selective Placement Factors are a prerequisite to appointment and represent minimum requirements for a position. Applicants who do not meet it are ineligible for further consideration. Evidence of the Selective Placement Factor must be reflected in your resume. The SPF for this position is: In addition to the English Language Proficiency, you must also be proficient in basic written and spoken Spanish in order to perform the duties of this position. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of the work requires use of fingers; moderate walking and standing; near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in on eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; hearing aid permitted; clear speech; emotional stability; moderate duty. Ability to drive/operate a government car.

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.

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 San Juan VA Medical Center 10 Calle Casia San Juan, PR 00921 US
• Name: Yolanda Ortiz-Davila
• Phone: (407) 631-7515
• Email: [email protected]