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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. 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. Learn more 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). 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 Master of Social Work. Licensure/Certification. 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/. 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: 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. LISW licensure is required in the state of Ohio. 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. Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. 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 in number 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. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II Appendix G39.The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Work is mostly sedentary and primarily performed in an office setting. Typical office work involves active listening, reading, observing, and evaluating verbal and nonverbal behavior, writing reports and clinical notes. The position requires the use of office equipment such as computers, keyboards, telephones, fax machines, and photocopy machines. Visual acuity, keen hearing, clear distinctive speech, and manual dexterity are required. The incumbent may occasionally be exposed to patients who are combative secondary to delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders. The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs. If required as a condition of employment, the incumbent must complete annual Employee Health requirements, such as annual TB screening or testing, employee physicals, etc. Up to 25% travel is required to visit with Veterans in the CRC Group Homes or to assist with occasional Veteran transport. The incumbent who provides care in home settings or other off-site locations may be required to drive and/or ride in and transport patients in GSA or GOV-vehicles. A valid driver's license and completion of all prerequisite training to drive a GSA or GOV and transport patients is required. ["The incumbent is a Senior Social Worker with responsibilities under the Community Residential Care (CRC) Program and Primary Care - Mental Health Integration (PC-MHI) Program under Mental Health Service. The Senior Social worker's time will be divided evenly between both positions working 50% in CRC and 50% in PC-MHI and it involves direct patient care. The position requires working with Veterans from all eras diagnosed with mental illnesses who receive a variety of therapeutic services such as medication management and education, evidence-based psychoeducation, psychotherapy, group therapy, case management and service coordination with other programs that provide continuity of care services at the necessary level of support. Within the CRC (50%), the Senior Social worker will provide administrative and clinical oversight to the CRC Program of the Dayton VA Medical Center as the CRC Coordinator in a non-supervisory capacity. The program coordination consists, in part, of annual group home sponsor trainings and annual inspections to ensure compliance with CRC standards. The CRC Coordinator, in conjunction with the Psychosocial Rehabilitation Program (PSR), Coordinator, oversees the clinical integrity of the program, ensuring that program staff practices in accordance with national guidelines pertaining to an assertive community treatment model of care for seriously mentally ill veterans. The incumbent may also engage in clinical work within the CRC, such as completing CRC intakes, treatment plan updates, patient visits, and coordination of care. Within PC-MHI (50%), the incumbent will complete same-day functional assessments of patients after warm handoffs from primary care providers (PCP) to determine mental health care needs. Curbside consultations with PCPs and other Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) members about the plan of care for patients are routine and feedback is given in a timely manner. The incumbent must use a high level of skill in conducting structure diagnostic and clinical assessments in a time-limited manner (20-25 minutes) as well as treating the complicated psychosocial problems of patients with a ride range of mental health diagnoses and conditions. Treatment modalities include evidence-based psychotherapy for individuals, families and groups. Provision of care in the PC-MHI setting is through brief interventions (20 to 25 minutes sessions every 2 to 4 weeks for individuals and 60-90 minutes groups for approximately 4 weeks) with a focus on allowing the patient to remain with their PCP for the full range of health care needs to the extent that this is clinically appropriate. Additionally, the incumbent will coordinate patient care (referring to specialty mental health when appropriate), provide crisis intervention and risk assessments, and potentially assist with medication monitoring. Finally, the incumbent will engage in measurement based care on a routine basis. The incumbent must be licensed to practice social work at the advanced practice level. At least two years of experience should be in an area of specialized social work practice and the experience should demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment in working with chronically mentally ill patients. The incumbent adheres to the Code of Ethics of their discipline. The incumbent requires knowledge of psychiatric emergency assessment, suicide and homicide risk assessments, crisis intervention, chronic and acute mental health conditions, case management, and community resources for chronically mentally ill and other medical diagnoses.\nWork Schedule: Full time, Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm, or as determined by agency need.\nFunctional Statement #: 91365-A\nRelocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized\nEDRP Authorized: Contact VISN10HREDRPSLRP@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance\nFinancial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

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