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

This position is for a GS-12 Senior Social Worker, working in the unit of Housing and Urban Development/VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) HUD-VASH is an intensive case management program for chronically homeless veterans aimed at providing psychosocial services to veterans while residing in stable housing through HUD's Section 8 voucher system. The incumbent in this position functions as the Case Manager for PVAMC's Housing and Urban Development / VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH). The HUD-VASH Program falls within the Healthcare for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Programs of the Behavioral Health & Sciences Care Line. Duties/functions include and not limited to the following: The incumbent is responsible for providing case management for a caseload of veterans in the HUD-VASH program. Case management is defined as the provision of services by VA clinical staff to homeless veterans and includes all activities to provide appropriate treatment and maintain veterans in HUD approved stable housing. The incumbent is responsible for reviewing agreements between Section 8, landlords, Public Housing Authorities and the VA in establishing appropriate referral sites for HUD-VASH placements. The incumbent performs site visits of HUD-VASH apartments to ensure that veterans reside in safe environments in compliance with local housing codes. The incumbent takes responsibility for improving professional skills, participating in planning and executing specific staff development projects, attending seminars and institutes, and participating in training programs of other disciplines as requested. The incumbent works with VA Medical Center multi-disciplinary teams and community agencies to strive for developing more effective and efficient ways of delivering healthcare services to HUD-VASH Program veterans. The incumbent works with VA Medical Center multi-disciplinary teams and community agencies to strive for developing more effective and efficient ways of delivering healthcare services to HUD-VASH Program veterans. The incumbent provides comprehensive social work services to veterans and their families. Responsibilities include the management, coordination and provision of social work services to veteran and their families in inpatient, outpatient and community settings. In the provision of care in patients from the adult (less than 65 years of age) to the geriatric (greater than 65 years of age), the employee recognizes the age related needs and demonstrates knowledge and care appropriate to that age group The Social Worker will fulfill ethical responsibilities to Veterans, colleagues and VA in accordance with NASW Code of Ethics, VHA Code of Ethics, and local Ethics policies, which includes but is not limited to compliance with all laws and regulations related to confidentiality and release of information, and protecting Veterans' personal identifying information The Social Worker documents in the patient's medical record in accordance with Social Work and medical center policies, and the requirements of JCAHO. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:00pm Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #03179-F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

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/. 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, candidates 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: Homeless Experience preferred, not required. 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. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: The position includes mainly working in the community. Up to 70% of the work week could be in the field on home visits. The incumbent need to pass driving physical and requirements with Occupational Health as well as requires the ability to walk steps.

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 Corporal Michael J Crescenz Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 3900 Woodland Avenue Philadelphia, PA 19104 US
• Name: Natasha Sudler
• Phone: 302-290-6874
• Email: [email protected]