Job opening: Senior Social Worker (Veterans Justice Outreach)
Salary: $106 064 - 137 878 per year
Published at: Nov 18 2024
Employment Type: Full-time
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
VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU
VA Careers - Licensed Clinical Social Worker: https://youtube.com/embed/U_xC25QsN0w
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 GS-12 Veteran's Justice Outreach Specialist (VJO) has clinical social work responsibilities that are primarily conducted in community settings. The VJO has three areas of focus: local criminal justice courts, local police departments and local county jails. The VJO serves as a member of the Mental Health Division and is an integral liaison with programs of the Mental Health Division. This position works collaboratively with the Homeless Program and other clinical teams to promote seamless transition for eligible Veterans into VA services. The VJO will provide time limited case management during the transition process to appropriate services.
The duties of this position include, but are not limited to:
Collaboration with justice system including police officers, sheriff's deputies, court judges, classification officers, probation officers, reentry staff, public defenders, private attorneys, and district attorneys.
Interacting with Veterans and the attorneys representing Veterans to determine if VA intervention and treatment is viable and appropriate.
Participation as an active member of a court team.
Build new relationships and expand existing relationships with community treatment court judges, court personnel, district attorneys, public defenders, and private attorneys to assist and serve Veterans involved in these court systems (Drug Courts, Mental Health Courts, Homeless Courts) in determination of eligibility for benefits and services, and linkage to community and VA services.
Participate in community grant writing efforts to develop Veterans Courts.
Build new relationships and expand existing relationships with community police forces serving the catchment area of the medical center. Provides training to law enforcement personnel regarding identifying Veterans, eligibility for VHA and VBA benefits, as well as issues regarding TBI, PTSD, SUD, and other mental health diagnoses.
Conduct regular, ongoing outreach to selected jail facilities serving the catchment area of the medical center. This will include development of collaborative arrangements with county jail personnel involved in outside programming and re-entry services, arrangements for jail clearance for the VJO Specialist and other involved VA outreach staff and establishing a schedule of regular outreach to the facilities. Direct service to Veterans incarcerated in these jail facilities shall include determination of eligibility for benefits and services, linkage to VA and community services, and time limited case management as necessary.
Collaborates with county probation officers, public defenders, district attorneys, hired attorneys, judges and community health and mental health agency staff to develop a treatment plan that offers alternatives to incarceration.
Work Schedule:Monday - Friday 0800-1630
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact
[email protected] , the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases
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)
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 only
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Qualifications
Basic Requirements:
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).
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/.
Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.
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:
Senior Social Worker, GS-12
(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:
(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: Experience working with justice involved individuals. Experience building community partnerships and working with multi-disciplinary teams. Experience working with people with complex medical, substance use disorders, and mental health problems.
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
Physical Requirements: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39
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 Portland Health Care System
3710 Southwest US Veterans Hospital Road
Portland, OR 97239
US
- Name: Laurie Johnson
- Phone: (503) 220-8262 X51488
- Email: [email protected]
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