The Senior Social Worker functions as a coordinator of care for Veterans at high-risk for suicide and/or self-harm. Serves to facilitate and implement suicide prevention strategies through education, public speaking engagements, community outreach, data monitoring, and facilitation of case management activities. Performing most duties independently and may have limited access to onsite supervision.

Duties

As a credentialed and approved VASNHS Senior Social Worker, the incumbent diagnoses mental health disorders utilizing DSM-5 criteria; conducts psychological assessments; treats mental health disorders through a variety of approved and evidence-based modalities; and provides adjunctive interventions for the treatment of mental health disorders. Among the modalities that may be provided are individual, family, group psychotherapies, and/or Community Re-Integration activities located within the community and others as approved by VASNHS. They are responsible for monitoring the efficiency, effectiveness, timeliness, and quality of services incumbent provides within Suicide Prevention. They are responsible for oversight of required clinical records. Must be licensed at the advanced practice level, demonstrating an ability to expand clinical knowledge in the profession, provide consultation and guidance to colleagues, role model effective social work practice skills, teach or provide orientation to less experienced clinical staff, and develop innovations in practice interventions. Duties may include but are not limited to: Senior Social Worker is responsible for assessing the risk of suicide in individual patients in conjunction with the treating clinician and managing the Category I Patient Record Flag for patients at risk for suicide. Tracks high-risk veterans and monitors treatment to ensure that needed services are being received. Provide appropriate clinical referrals to Veterans affected by a suicide attempt or bereaved by suicide, including trauma treatment and care for complicated grief. Responds to consults from the Veteran Crisis Line within 24 business hours and coordinates the follow-up care for those Veterans and families to assure timely access to care and follow-up for patients in crisis. Provides training to clinical and non-clinical staff at the VA Medical Center, Primary Care Clinics, Pahrump CBOC, and community agencies regarding suicide risk factors, warning signs, treatment options, medical center memorandum and standard operating procedures, and resources and medical center. Develops and promotes educational materials about the warning signs for Veteran suicide and how to connect individuals in crisis with assistance and care. Works to reduce stigma associated with suicidal behavior and mental health and substance use disorders among Veterans. Promotes the understanding that recovery from mental health and substance use disorders is real and possible for all Veterans. Encourages collaboration between providers of mental health and substance use services and community-based programs, including peer support programs and Veterans Service Organizations (VSO). Delivers interventions to reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviors among Veterans with suicidal risks. Provides education about suicide risk assessments such as the Suicide Risk Identification Process including: PHQ2+I9, Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), and Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluation (CSRE). Promotes the use of evidence-based interventions and strategies for suicide prevention. Establishes and maintains an ongoing SAVE Training program with non-clinical frontline staff to assure that they are aware of options for veterans whom they come in contact during crisis situations. Plays an active role in the RCA (Root Cause Analysis) Suicide Team by performing individual case reviews, assisting with preparation of yearly aggregate summaries, and facilitating the implementation of system improvement recommended by the Team. May serve as a liaison to inpatient acute unit and/or residential treatment unit. If serving as the liaison will work onsite and participate in daily treatment team meetings on the unit(s). May provide feedback and guidance on Suicide Prevention Safety Plans and Suicide Prevention Advisory Committee and Overdose Review Committee. Will participate in training activities and scheduled meetings as required by Behavioral Health Service, a minimum of one National Suicide Prevention Newcomers call, routinely participate on duty related committees/task forces. Responsible for accessing the REACH VET Dashboard, identifying & notifying appropriate treating provider, and documenting efforts in CPRS utilizing the Reach Vet Coordinator note. Participates in peer review, assessing the quality of professional social work practice standards provided in the organization, focusing on the national Suicide Prevention Program standards. Accountable for practice, including Veteran visits, measuring outcomes to interventions, and meeting productivity standards. Work Schedule: Full-Time, Monday - Friday, subject to change based on needs of agency Telework: Available (Ad-hoc) Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 00000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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. 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. Experience/Education: 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, 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 the following KSAs: (1) 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. (2)Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (3) 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. (4) 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. (5) 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: 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 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. 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). Grandfathering Provision: Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation. (1) All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: (2) Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.(3) Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. (4) Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation. (5) If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. § 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation. NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection. If they choose to return at a later date to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. Physical Requirements: In accordance with VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

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 to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Contacts

• Address Las Vegas VA Medical Center 6900 North Pecos Road North Las Vegas, NV 89086 US
• Name: Cynthia Davis
• Phone: 360-750-5363
• Email: [email protected]