Career Center

Summary

This position is located in Social Work Service of the Bay Pines VA Healthcare System. The duties and responsibilities are carried throughout the HealthCare System including all clinical and other patient care areas involved with the services. Senior Social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. At least two years should be in an area of specialized social work practice.

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/
• 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment - the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates
• Experience/Education
• The candidate must have at least two years of experience 9 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
• 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
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 - Employee Occupational Health Services.

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 a Allied Health Professional Major duties but are not limited to: Performs specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness
• Incumbent incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of Veteran patients - including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice within the Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT)
• Provide individual - group - and family counseling and advanced level case management interventions used in the treatment of Veterans with polytrama injuries - spinal cord injuries - traumatic brain injuries - visual impairment - post-traumatic stress disorder - addictions - and other serious disorders
• Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in specialty areas - utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services
• Incumbent is able to demonstrate the ability to design changes based on empirical findings
• Offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in specialty areas - rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills
• Performs a wide range of services and provides technical assistance to State - local - and private agencies - and universities
• Technical assistance provided to monitor activities and program reviews - and the development and analysis of information
• The incumbent uses sound judgment in the interpretation of trends and patterns
• the application of guidelines
• and the recommendation of program enhancements Performs program analysis - development - review - research - design - and contact work as possible with various agencies (public - DOD - state - etc.)
• Making decisions regarding individual caseload priorities and workload activities in collaboration with treatment teams and based on the patient's needs - goals - and objectives of the team and the VA Health Care System
• The incumbent makes recommendations to the treatment team based on the Social Work assessment - focusing on providing the Veteran with the needed internal and external resources/supports in the least restrictive environment
• Performs work related to the review - monitoring - analysis - planning and assessment of various programs
• Responsible for key project activities related to the planning - development - and implementation of the project component
• Performs other related duties as assigned
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): 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: Not Avaliable Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 20878F