The Cincinnati VA Medical Center (CVAMC) is currently seeking a Senior Social Worker. The primary duty assignment will be within the Assessment and Intensive Treatment (AIT) Division serving as a core member of the Acute Psychiatric Unit and interdisciplinary Psychiatric Evaluation Center (PEC) treatment teams.

Duties

Duties and responsibilities include but not limited to: Can provide management, coordination, and provision of social work and supportive services to Veterans and/or their families, and other duties as assigned. Responsible for the assessment and treatment of services without limitation as to difficulty or complexity. Provides and documents services according to established policy. Responsible for active participation in mental health and interdisciplinary treatment team meetings. Independently provides 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 significant others. Assess family and community resources available to assist the patient. Covers social work needs for Veterans admitted to the Acute Inpatient Mental Health unit and psychiatry consult service on the inpatient medical units. Posses knowledge of the process for accessing and/or coordinating community-based services, including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, Non-VA, State and community programs. Independently makes a psychosocial diagnosis, complete comprehensive intakes, attend to urgent/emergent matters within the hospital both on site and virtually. as well as offer psychosocial interventions, and then measures outcomes to interventions. Independently completes mental health assessments, make diagnoses, screen for tobacco, alcohol and substance use disorders. Has strong knowledge of crisis interventions. Completes programmatic consults as required and ensure that appropriate mental health follow up and services are coordinated. Has experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures, including acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology. Provides consultation to other members of the Psychiatric Evaluation Center team (PEC) and other professionals interacting with the PEC team, including but not limited to primary care physicians and nurse practitioners, outpatient psychiatrists, clinical nurse specialists and psychiatric social workers. Coordinates community-based services, including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, other government programs and community agency programs. Provides expert knowledge of Veterans' benefits and services relating to special programs, service-connected compensation, non-service connected pension. Facilitates and prioritizes referrals based upon Veteran's needs and eligibility. Social worker provides education related to VA and community resources, entitlements, Advance Directives/Living Will and will refer Veterans/families to the appropriate interdisciplinary team member for identified health education needs. Responsible for overseeing the various aspects of the transfer of psychiatric patients into and out of the CVAMC utilizing the VA and CVAMC transfer policy. Has working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology. Serves as a subject matter expert to colleagues, providing professional opinions and support for psychosocial treatment of this complex population when consulted. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm. Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 92575-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. 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. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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/. 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: 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. 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 Social Worker 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. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12 .Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

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/.

Contacts

• Address Cincinnati VA Medical Center 3200 Vine Street Cincinnati, OH 45220 US
• Name: Rhonda McCubbin
• Email: [email protected]