The Veterans Justice Program (VJP) Hybrid Social Worker is a Senior Social Worker whose primary responsibilities are to provide outreach, treatment-matching assessments, referrals, linkage to medical, psychiatric, and social services, including housing resources and employment services; case management; consultation and advocacy; systems intervention and facilitation of access to civil legal services; and implementation of VHA Directive 1162.06(1).

Duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Functions include but not limited to: A. Outreach The VJP Senior Social Worker is required to identify Veterans among persons incarcerated in prison, jail, court or otherwise in contact with criminal justice agencies, engage Veterans in participation in a treatment-matching assessment and facilitate their access to a wide range of medical, psychiatric, employment, and social services. This outreach may also include field interviews, assessments and referrals for Veterans contacted in community settings, as well as those referred by VA residential programs, medical centers, or outpatient clinics. The VJP Senior Social Worker will provide education and encourage to state Department of Corrections and local county and city law enforcement agencies to partner with VA to use the Veterans Reentry Search Service (VRSS) to identify Veterans. B. Clinical Assessment The VJP Senior Social Worker provides a Treatment-Matching Assessment and develops an initial determination of the needs of the Veteran seen by the VJP Specialist, and develops an initial plan, 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 Once the Veteran presents at a VA medical center following outreach, a clinical assessment to determine medical and psychiatric diagnoses and other biopsychosocial needs, occurs at the time of medical or psychiatric evaluation and/or treatment program screening. C. Education The VJP Senior Social Worker provides Veterans with information on resources such as VA medical, psychiatric, substance use disorder and employment services, post-release housing and community services, civil legal services, and benefits. D. Case Management The VJP Senior Social Worker provides community-facing outreach, focused on making contact with justice-involved Veterans and linking them to needed services primarily within VHA, a health care system with extensive, well-established case management resources and procedures. The VJP Senior Social Worker sometimes provides case management services when a Veteran's circumstances make this appropriate. (e.g., long-term participation in a Veterans Treatment Court, short-term case management to assist in engaging in VHA services). The VJP Senior Social Worker will adhere to the following when providing case management: E. Consultation and Advocacy The VJP Senior Social Worker will participate in consultation and advocacy with VA and non-VA community programs to address the receipt of VA services and issues presented by justice involved Veterans. The VJP Senior Social Worker will participate in consultation and advocacy activities with the goal of keeping barriers to service low and ensuring timely access to the continuum of care necessary to assist Veterans with community stability. Activities may include formal education to internal VA staff or external criminal justice stakeholders, meeting with leadership at a variety of levels, including VA leaders, criminal justice leaders, and elected officials, and one-on-one consultation regarding plans of clinical care. NOTE: VJP advocacy is focused on access to clinical services, both for individual Veterans and for the justice-involved Veteran population generally. VJP does not attempt to influence criminal justice outcomes such as charging decisions made by a judge, or to otherwise advocate for or represent a Veteran as would his or her attorney. F. Systems Intervention The VJP Senior Social Worker will implement Systems intervention strategies to improve VA, criminal justice, and non-VA community programs' services to Veterans involved in criminal justice. It includes educating all stakeholders about the population and developing and negotiating strategies to change organizational policies to better serve Veterans involved in the criminal justice system. This establishes processes to identify Veterans in criminal justice settings, educate criminal justice and community staff members about available VA services, coordinate outreach processes across VA, criminal justice and community organization systems, and develop new, innovative programs and define all stakeholders' roles. For example, start a Veterans Treatment Court, Veterans dorm in a jail or prison, or Veterans diversion program. G. Facilitating Access to Civil Legal Services The VJP Senior Social Worker will work to improve access and decrease barriers to civil legal services, included by partnering with local legal service providers to improve Veterans' ability to address their unmet civil legal needs. This establishes processes to: Work Schedule: Monday -Friday; 8a-430p Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: Senior Social Worker - Veterans Justice Program, GS-0185-12

Requirements

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: The basic requirements for employment as a VHA social worker are prescribed by statute in 38 U.S.C. 7402(b)(9), as amended by section 205 of Public Law 106-419, enacted November 1, 2000. To qualify for appointment as a social worker in VHA, all applicants must meet the following: Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part). 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 Master 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/. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. 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 References: September 10, 2019, VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39The full performance level of this vacancy is a GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application. Please provide such documentation on your application or resume. Also, please provide work experience information such as hours per week and starting/ending dates of employment (month and year format) to establish one (1) full year of experience. The requirement for this proof is specified in the "How to Apply" section of this announcement. To be credible, experience must be documented in the application and verifiable through employment references and/or other means.

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 Jesse Brown Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 820 South Damen Avenue Chicago, IL 60612 US
• Name: Antonio Olgin
• Phone: 2162127241
• Email: [email protected]