Summary

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.

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
• 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
• 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)
• 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment - the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates
• 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: 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://department.va.gov/employees/va-qualifications-standards/
• Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position
• Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination
• The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Duties

• The Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) is a comprehensive team which delivers primary care to Veteran patients in a longitudinal rather than episodic fashion and which has as its focus: prevention
• health promotion - coordination - and chronic disease management
• The social worker in this Veteran-centric approach often functions as a care coordinator with a panel of veterans to ensure that health care meets the needs - as defined by the Veteran
• Social Workers are uniquely prepared for this role by virtue of their education - training - and experience which prepares them to understand the person-in-situation and the influences that family and community have in impacting the healthcare needs of Veterans
• As a member of the Interdisciplinary Treatment Team in the PACT clinics - the incumbent conducts work activity independently using his/her educational training - clinical experience - VA policies - and JC standards in administering direct services: psychosocial assessment of patient/family needs in relation to the provision of interdisciplinary treatment planning and service delivery
• individual - group - and family counseling and casework services for the purpose of addressing identified needs
• Major duties include - but are not limited to: Conducting psychosocial assessments to determine needs of veterans and family members
• An active participant in the treatment planning process with other disciplines
• Participate in discharge planning with other disciplines and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely and appropriate
• Utilize evidence-based practice to provide individual - family and group therapy as appropriate
• Provide consultation/education to veterans and families on community resources - advance directives - and VA benefits
• Act as a consultant to other team/staff members
• Provide consultation/education to medical residents on social work practice and VA policy and procedure
• Act as liaison between VA and community resources - to include marketing and public relation duties as needed
• Provide advanced level case management to veterans and families - as needed - throughout the continuum of care
• Address Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of their work area
• Provide wellness/prevention education and facilitate patient/family support groups as appropriate
• Supervise the practice of social work students - or a less experienced social worker
• Coordinate treatment and communicate with the care lines to facilitate continuity of care for veterans
• Participate in committee assignments - as deemed necessary by the service manager
• Maintain data and statistical compilations to comply with JCAHO - VA and medical center policy and procedures
• Assist patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability - terminal illness and death through grief counseling and other evidenced based practices
• Document social work interventions and activities in patient's clinical record
• Participate in a rotation of on-call social workers - including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on weekends
• Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 8:00 a.m
• - 4:30 p.m
• 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
• Learn more 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: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized