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The Substance Abuse Treatment Program (SATP) Senior Social worker is an advanced practice clinical professional who functions as a Senior Social Worker for the John J. Pershing VAMC Substance Abuse Treatment Program (SATP). The SATP Senior Social Worker is directly supervised by the BHL/PCMHI/SATP Mental Health Supervisor. 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/. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. 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: Senior Social Worker GS12 (1) 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. (2) 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. (3) 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. (4) 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, PART II, APPENDIX G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard, This can be found in the local Human Resources Office. 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: This position is mostly sedentary and requires walking, kneeling, bending, standing, and light lifting. ["Major Duties: The Mental Health Supervisor reports to the Associate Chief of Staff for Mental Health. Incumbent serves as Subject Matter Expert for the SATP program and is responsible for the provision of advanced practice clinical and supportive services to Veterans receiving substance use disorder services through SATP, for training, education, consultation, support, and mentoring of program staff, and education and consultation to internal and external customers of the program; and for partnering with the MH Supervisor on program growth and development, policy improvements, and collaborations with internal and external customers and entities including point of contact for the Continuum of Care for the facility, including primary point of contact for the SATP program. The incumbent practices both within the hospital setting and within the community with special emphasis on providing independent advanced clinical psychosocial services within the Veterans' home residences and residential centers via VA Video Connect, within the hospital setting, and within community settings. Advanced clinical psychosocial services are aimed at assisting Veterans with Substance Use Disorder. The senior social worker may directly intervene in the practice of and/or provide consultation and coaching to other team members in more challenging patient situations as proves necessary to ensure Veteran needs are met to the greatest extent possible. The incumbent possesses experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. The incumbent has at least two years' experience in treatment of Substance Use Disorders. Incumbent must be licensed or certified by a state area of specialized social work practice and be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which includes an ASWB advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advance practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced 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. The incumbent possesses the ability to expand clinical knowledge in the profession, provide consultation and guidance to colleagues, role model effective social work practice skills, teach or provide orientation to less experienced social workers, develop innovations in practice interventions, and provide clinical supervision for social work licensure or certification. The incumbent is also assigned to administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. The incumbent may be assigned to work with special patient populations with highly complex cases or mental health problems, such as Veteran's Justice Outreach (VJO), social work case managers in Mental Health Intensive Case Management (MHICM) programs, or Homeless Program. The Senior Social Worker works independently and is responsible for providing a broad range of professional services to patients for substance abuse evaluation and treatment. Develops and implements treatment programs through therapeutic contact over an extended period. Assesses patients with particularly complex or unusual disorders and assists patients in recognizing and resolving problems within themselves and/or involving family and other affected persons. The Senior Social Worker is a professional mental health care provider with comprehensive knowledge of accepted behavioral science theories, methods, techniques, and practices. Must be proficient in a wide variety of modalities and skills as well as facilitate complex behavior assessment, modification, and treatment. The mission of the Substance Abuse Treatment Program (SATP) is to provide treatment of a variety of complex problems involving alcohol and drug dependency. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM some ON-CALL Telework: Ad Hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized EDRP Authorized: Contact Rachel.Cravens@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

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