The Senior Social Worker is the Coordinated Entry Specialist (CES) for Homeless Programs. This position enables VA Homeless Programs to fully collaborate with the community, including the Continuum of Care (CoC) and community partners, in the coordinated entry efforts of each community in the service area.

Duties

Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf The Senior Social Worker is the Coordinated Entry Specialist (CES) for Homeless Programs. This position enables VA Homeless Programs to fully collaborate with the community, including the Continuum of Care (CoC) and community partners, in the coordinated entry efforts of each community in the service area. The Senior Social Worker supports the VA Homeless Program by providing continuity of care for homeless Veterans between VHA and community-based programs, as the Veteran transitions from homelessness into housing programs such as Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Contracted Emergency Residential Services (CERS), Grant and Per Diem (GPD), as well as permanent housing through the Housing and Urban Development- Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program, the Supportive Services for Veteran Families (SSVF) Program, or other forms of housing in the community. Duties include but are not limited to: Participate in CoC meetings and planning efforts which may include leadership roles within the CoC group. Provide direct linkage from community services to VHA Homeless Program services through regular and consistent outreach and communication with community providers. Participate in case conferencing processes within the CoC's coordinated entry system to help inform and facilitate referrals to VA Programs such as HCHV CERS, GPD, HUD-VASH and SSVF. Provide support to the VA Homeless Program teams as a functional member of the team, to include participation in outreach activities and subject matter consultation on community involved interventions for homeless Veterans. Monitors progress on performance measures, identifying trends and gaps in services, making recommendations to Homeless Program leadership as to operational improvements and actions to improve performance measure outcomes. Skilled administrator of structured interviews and assessments Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade). 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) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience. 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: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 919140 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. 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: (1) 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. (2) 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. (3) 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 Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS12 Physical Requirements: The position is primarily sedentary with some bending, walking, and stooping required. The position requires the employee to work in a variety of settings including patient homes and community settings. This may require the employee to walk on uneven surfaces. The position requires the ability to read printed material and distinguish colors, such as reading computer screens, the ability to accurately perceive depth so as to move around the work space safely, and to appropriate make contact with patients and staff, and the ability to meet visual requirements to operate a motor vehicle. Considerable walking and stair climbing may be required. A valid Driver's License and driving ability is required. Driving is a requirement to provide services as needed in community settings. The work may also require assisting disabled Veterans.

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 Aleda E Lutz Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center 1500 Weiss Street Saginaw, MI 48602 US
• Name: Zachery Shippell
• Phone: 989-497-2500 X13053
• Email: [email protected]