Career Center

The Senior Social Worker practices within the NMVAHCS Cara Pain Management Clinic providing inpatient and outpatient services. These services include intake, assessment, case management, advocacy, treatment, coordination of care and discharge planning with appropriate VA and community service providers and agencies as needed and directed by the Veteran. 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: Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States. 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. 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. 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: 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. Preferred Experience: Clinical and case management experience with medical specialty clinics (e.g., HemOnc, palliative, MAT, etc.) 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 Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. ["The Senior Social Worker serves a patient population with highly complex pain, including cancer-related pain, and other health, mental health, and substance use comorbidities. Services include provision of high quality case management, clinical treatment, advocacy, and coordination of linkages to other appropriate VA or community service providers and/or agencies as needed by the Veteran. The incumbent is organizationally aligned within the Ambulatory Care Service and clinical practice remains the responsibility of the NMVAHCS Social Work Executive. The major duties and responsibilities of a Clinical Dietitian includes but are not limited to: The incumbent has advanced and expert 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 psychotherapyand advanced level psychosocial and/or case management interventions used in the treatment of veterans with chronic pain, cancer related pain, and/or other complex physical or medical illness, and/or mental health and substance use needs. Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the area of chronic pain and cancer related pain utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in the specialty area, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. Works independently using his/her educational training, clinical experience, VA policies, and TJC standards in administering direct services. Assessing the patient's understanding of their diagnoses and proposed treatments Education/instruction regarding self-relaxation and other coping strategies Assessing treatment options when factoring in work, family, and the Veteran's other obligations Providing referrals and linkage to community agencies with specialized benefits Counseling individuals, couples, and families or referrals to specialized mental health providers Linkages to appropriate support groups and educational programs Interagency collaboration when Veteran's care involves multiple entities Facilitating communication between the treatment team, Veteran, and Family, including advocacy Facilitating family discussions about illness, healthcare and life changes Providing education related to the patient's VA, Social Security, and disability benefits Providing education or referrals for required transportation to/from cancer care treatments at the VA or community programs, including needs of rural veterans Referral to, and coordination of, methadone clinical services including facilitation with fee basis Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30 am - 4:00 pm Telework: Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 00000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

Return to Search Results