Summary

This position is located in the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program - a unit of the Mental Health Clinic. The Senior Social Worker provides Mental health services to the veteran population enrolled at Martinsburg VA Medical Center. Services include provision of high quality case management - individual and group therapy - clinical treatment - crisis intervention - advocacy - coordination of linkages to other appropriate VA or community service providers//agencies - as needed by the client.

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
• 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
• 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 judgement
• 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: 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 area
• 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-11
• The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 - Employee Occupational Health Services.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU 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 Major Duties: Screening/Assessment- Develop a psychosocial assessment of the veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team - the veteran and family members/significant others
• Treatment Planning/Goal Setting- Responsible for contributing to the development of the treatment plan and setting achievable treatment goals with the veteran - family members/significant others and other Outpatient Mental Health clinical staff
• Referral to service providers- Throughout the course of treatment - the Social Worker is the subject matter expert on VA and/or community resources
• The Social Worker will collaborate with other service providers in reassessing the veteran's needs
• The Social Worker is responsible for educating the veteran and family members/significant others of the available services and assisting them in establishing the appropriate referrals based on the veteran's preference or that of his surrogate decision-maker
• Resource Usage/Development- Responsible for using the current Social Work resource file of VA and community social service programs and enhancing the content to the benefit of veterans
• Advocacy- Understands the intimidation of bureaucracy and will act as an advocate when it serves the best interest of the veteran and family members/caregiver
• When appropriate and feasible - the Social Worker will educate and encourage the veteran to advocate on his/her own behalf - thus fostering a sense of independence and empowerment
• Crisis Intervention- Experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for admission to mental health inpatient programs
• The Social Worker has access to multiple resource directories in addition to previously developed resources to meet the demands of a crisis
• Education/Health promotion and prevention- Provides education related to VA and community resources - entitlements - Advance Directives/Living Will and will refer veterans and family members/significant others to the appropriate interdisciplinary team member for identified health education needs
• Coordination of non-institutional and institutional services- Review the progress notes from the other providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each veteran
• The Social Worker will educate the veteran - their family members/significant other and the team of all the options available to them and will collaborate with the veteran and family members/significant other on the preferred option
• Supportive Counseling- Provide the veterans and their family members/significant other with ongoing supportive counseling
• The purpose of such counseling is to deal with the psychosocial impact of coping with severe mental illness(es) - chronic/disabling illness(es) - onset of a catastrophic illness - etc
• Therapy- Provides individual and group evidence-based therapies (i.e
• CPT - PE - etc.) to veterans
• Administrative responsibilities- Enter all veteran/family contacts in the electronic record using appropriate formats and templates
• This information will be entered in a complete - confidential - and professional manner to insure information on the veteran is shard with other VA staff
• Evaluation - Education - Supervision - Coaching and Mentoring- Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in specialty areas - utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services
• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 8:00am - 4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized 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)
• 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: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: Senior Social Worker FS 613-25024-F