Career Center

The Senior Social Worker provides a variety of psychosocial assessments, complex case management services, short-term solution focused psychotherapy and family services with individual Veterans and families who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical and social problems; and instruct social work students, residents, and instruct social work students, residents, interns and fellows. The Organizational Location of the Position is: Social Work Service, VANTHCS, Ft. Worth, Tx. 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: Persons hired or reassigned to a Social Worker position in the GS-0185 series in the VHA must 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's 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/. 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. 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: 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 requirements listed above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities (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. Preferred Experience: Experiencing working independently and employing critical thinking. Experiencing managing a case managing workload. Clinical Social Work Experience. Experience addressing complex psychosocial factors. Experience prioritizing multiples tasks and meeting deadlines. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualifications Standard The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the GS-12. Physical Requirements: Light lifting: under 15 pounds; straight pulling (up to l hour); pushing (I - 2 hours); reaching above shoulders; use of fingers; walking (up to 3 hours); standing (up to 3 hours); repeated bending (up to I hour); ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; near vision and far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and 20/40 in the other; both eyes required for depth perception; ability to distinguish shade of colors, hearing (aid permitted); climbing stairs; mentally alert; both legs required for operation of motor vehicle; and frequent keyboarding to operate a computer. Occasional Travel: The position requires occasional travel away from the duty station. Must be able to obtain and maintain a valid Texas and Federal Driver License to operate a government vehicle. This travel may require the transporting of PHI information. ["VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Duties to include but not limited to: Independently evaluates Veterans and family members/significant others situation and arrives at a reasoned conclusion. Interprets and explains VA's treatment and benefit programs. Develops an appropriate treatment plan and provides short-term solution focused psychotherapy and family services. Provides comprehensive case management services to OEF/OIF/OND Veterans referred to the program. Determines eligibility for services, completes needs assessment, develops a comprehensive care plan, identifies resources and referrals, and coordination and monitoring of services. Provides information and education to patients and families to help assure that ongoing medical, emotional, and social needs are met. Meets with patients in the Medical Center and community as needed. Assists patients and families with identifying appropriate goals and medical care consistent with those goals. Coordinates care with other healthcare professionals, including but not limited to physician, psychiatrist, nurse, chaplain, pharmacist, and other social workers. Completes suicide risk screenings and suicide risk assessments and other clinical reminders as appropriate. Identifies who is at highrisk and in need of acute mental health care and a further mental health evaluation. Assists veterans in coping with acute illness, chronic illness, combat stress, residuals of traumatic brain injury (TBI), community adjustment, addictions, and other health and mental health problems. Reviews all data, subjective and objective, and makes a clinical assessment, identifying needs and strengths. Effectively uses professional skill, objectivity and insight. Uses advanced clinical training, and experience to interpret data and to identify viable treatment options. Assesses high risk factors, acuity and need for services. Incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved scope of practice and at a level appropriate to their licensure. Has a working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology. Provides crisis management and develops psychosocial treatment plans in coordination with interdisciplinary team members, including goals for psychosocial clinical treatment. Participates on an interdisciplinary team and recommends a course of treatment. Makes initial and continuing decisions regarding use of VA and non-VA services and referrals. Recommends care and changes to interdisciplinary treatment plan. Participates in the assignment/referral of Veterans to treatment teams and programs. Responsible to provide a variety of services for veterans including but not limited to psychosocial assessments, pre-discharge and admission planning, short-term solution focused counseling with individuals and families who may be in crisis and with outside agencies working with Veterans. Manages evaluation of the professional services provided. Devises methods of obtaining data and evaluates data to determine the effectiveness of treatment. Provides case management services to those Veterans at high social or medical risk, serving as the liaison to other treatment programs. Participates in the orientation of new social worker staff and other interdisciplinary team members. Serves as a mentor to other social workers. Provides clinical supervision for unlicensed social workers, social worker licensed at the LMSW category and for social work associates. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: 50% telework and 50% on site Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #:000000/Senior Social Worker Transition and Care Management Program Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

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