This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former participants ineligible to apply.

Duties

Establishes and maintains effective working relationships and communicates with Veterans, staff, and other parties as appropriate. Provides professional, independent, specialized mental health treatment to veterans who are diagnosed with substance use disorders and who are experiencing a wide range of complex medical, psychiatric, emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial problems. Provides individual, group and family psychotherapy interventions used in the treatment of veterans with substance use disorders and comorbid mental health needs, including post-traumatic stress disorder, and serious mental health disorders. Implements Measurement Based Care for measuring effectiveness of clinical practice and services in specialty areas, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Uses advanced clinical training, and experience to identify viable treatment options and makes appropriate referrals for care. Develops treatment plans in coordination with RRTP Team Members, including goals for treatment. Utilizes community resources to make referrals to the community and other government agencies as appropriate, and coordinates services. Establishes effective working relationships with VA staff and community-based agencies. Makes referrals to other services in the VA, as well as to other agencies, community resources, and other Governmental agencies. Acts as a community and family liaison by initiating and maintaining necessary contact with the patient, his/her family, VA Healthcare System service programs and personnel, mental health agencies, and other related resource agencies. Conducts psychosocial assessments and treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diversified backgrounds. Assesses the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and family members. Interviews Veterans and their family members/significant others to establish facts about the Veteran's situation. Reviews all data, subjective and objective, and makes a clinical assessment identifying strengths, needs, abilities, and preferences. Assesses high risk factors, acuity, and need for services. Assesses and documents identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and/or intimate partner violence. Concludes the appropriate action, even in instances where actions can have serious impact on the life of the veteran. Uses expertise in the professional development of colleagues through mentorship and teaching. Establishes and maintains ongoing education programs for Veterans, community agencies, students, and staff to facilitate understanding of social work interventions. Advocates on behalf of the veteran to ensure that services and benefits are obtained in a timely manner. Receives and completes requests for services from interdisciplinary team members and from other social workers. Utilizes crisis intervention techniques with Veterans who are in an acute crisis by implementing the Suicide Prevention and Management of Suicidal Behavior policy. Utilizes a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities in treatment or with specialized Veteran populations. Utilizes advanced skill in working with individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management interventions. Incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnoses and treatment within approved clinical privileges. Develops psychosocial treatment plans in coordination with interdisciplinary team members. Tailors treatment plans to individual Veterans needs to differential diagnoses, maladaptive coping skills, available or lack of resources/support, and/or on-going need for psychological support. Uses known available resources and the initial assessment of the Veteran's likelihood to accept differing types of assistance. Develops discharge plans and set achievable discharge goals in consultation with the interdisciplinary treatment team. Documents in the medical record, including psychosocial assessments, diagnostic assessments, treatment, progress notes, follow up, and referral. Provides specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of Veteran in the RRTP-SUD. Provides oversight and clinical supervision for social work trainees to progress toward licensure or certification. Provides training to staff through orientations, patient review conferences, and in-service programs. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 592170 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Qualifications

***This is an open continuous announcement until December 31, 2024. Qualified applicants will be considered and referred as vacancies become available. *** 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/. Grade Determinations: 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. Preferred Experience: VA experience preferred. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. Physical Requirements: Must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. Social Worker must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the social worker or others. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; and repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.

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 VA Western Colorado Health Care System 2121 North Avenue Grand Junction, CO 81501 US
• Name: VISN 19 HR Contact Center
• Phone: 719-227-4600
• Email: [email protected]