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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. 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 Requirement - Per VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j: No person will be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English. 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/. Once licensed or certified, social workers must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment. Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019. 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: GS12 Senior Social Worker 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: 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. Advanced Practice Level: For all assignments above the full performance (journey) 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. Advanced Practice Level is defined as the ability to provide independent and expert clinical psychosocial and case management services in a specialized area of practice to Veterans who tend to have serious and severe crises, may lack any familial and community support, may be poor self-monitors, may frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or may have major deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychological support. The advanced practice or senior social worker has an increased depth and breadth of practice skills; has expertise in participating in the professional development of colleagues through mentorship and teaching; demonstrates leadership in developing and expanding professional intervention strategies; demonstrates leadership in defining and attending to professional practice issues; and has the ability to expand the conceptual knowledge of the profession. The advanced practice or senior social worker will make independent professional decisions and recommendations for agency action; the consequences to the Veteran of these decisions and actions may be quite serious. Work involves intensive social work services requiring the exercise of mature professional judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of complex social work practice skills not typically required in routine social work interventions. The advanced practice or senior social worker has mastered a range of specialized interventions and provides consultation to colleagues, renders professional opinions based on experience and expertise, develops new models of psychosocial assessment or intervention, and incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment. The advanced practice or senior social worker utilizes outcome evaluations to further treatment and designs system changes based on empirical findings. Preferred Experience: Experience with evidence based treatment Experience working with veterans in crisis and conducting risk assessments At least one (1) year of experience with developing and implementing large scale outreach events At least one (1) year of experience working with VA suicide prevention program and VHA policies an directives Experience completing VA issue briefs At least one (1) year of experience writing press releases and very comfortable providing media interviews References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, dated September 10, 2019. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Some work may require movement between offices, hospitals, warehouses, and similar areas for meetings and to conduct work. Work may also require walking/standing, in conjunctions with travel to and attendance at meetings and/or conferences away from the work site. Incumbent may carry and lift light items weighing less than 15 pounds. ["**** This vacancy will remain open until filled. The first cut-off date is 3/31/2023. Additional applications will be referred as needed. **** The Suicide Prevention Coordinator is a Senior Social Worker who will serve to facilitate implementation of suicide prevention strategies to help ensure that all appropriate measures are taken to prevent suicide in our veteran population. The primary responsibilities of the Suicide Prevention Coordinator include monitoring a list of veterans determined to be at high risk for self-harm and coordinating enhanced care when needed, providing education to all front line and clinical staff regarding risk factors and protective factors for suicide, educating clinical staff regarding safety planning with their patients, networking with community partners, and assisting with timely and accurate responses to all action items regarding the Suicide Prevention Program. As a Senior Social Worker, the Suicide Prevention Coordinator facilitates efficient and appropriate delivery of mental health services across episodes of care within the Medical Center and Community Based Outpatient Clinics. The work of this position is highly complex, involving a combination of mental health administrative skills and intensive clinical services in serious and complicated cases, and carries full professional responsibility for cases presenting with a wide range of psychosocial and environmental problems. The Suicide Prevention Coordinator implements information systems to track services including visits, referrals, inpatient admissions, patient demographics, and patient satisfaction. The incumbent provides programmatic guidance including technical and clinical assistance to other staff in the Suicide Prevention Program. As a Senior Social Worker, the Suicide Prevention Coordinator is responsible for data collection and monthly reports on all veterans who have had a recent suicide attempt and monitors the completion of the Suicide Behavior Report by other providers. The Suicide Prevention Coordinator is responsible for data collection, administrative record keeping, monitoring of patient or program clinical indicators, and performance measurements. Responds to consults from the National Suicide Prevention Hotline and coordinates the follow up care for these veterans and families Has the responsibility of reviewing all veterans whose charts have been flagged due to being at risk for self-harm. Assuring that all veterans on the facility tracking list are being followed closely by the appropriate provider on a regular basis as determined by the coordinator and the provider. Works with community resources such as VSOs and other community groups to assure that they are aware of how to recognize Veterans at risk for suicide and their options for getting these Veterans assistance. Develops and implements an ongoing education plan for providers, veterans, families, and members of the community on risk factors and warning signs for suicide, and treatment options. Assures that all of these veterans have a 24-hour resource number to call and ways to get assistance if an immediate crisis should occur. Participates in the assignment of veterans to treatment teams and programs. Consults with other specialists in planning treatment for veterans and with co-morbidities. Develops working relationships with other organizations having responsibility for the same patient population. Maintains a current and productive network of referral resources. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Recruitment Incentives: Authorized EDRP Authorized: Contact VISN17EDRP2@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

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