Summary

The Suicide Prevention Coordinator (SPC) will serve to facilitate implementation of suicide prevention strategies at the Memphis VA Medical Center and VA Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs). Activities will include support for the identification of Veterans at high risk for suicide and coordinating enhanced care.

Qualifications

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
• 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 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/
• 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: 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
• 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
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• Physical Requirements: All candidates must be physically and mentally able to perform efficiently the essential functions of the position - with or without reasonable accommodation - without hazard to themselves or others
• Candidates must meet the physical requirements outlined in Section II and Section VI of the OPM Operating Manual - Qualification Standards for General Schedule Positions and must possess emotional and mental stability.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to: The incumbent facilitates efficient and appropriate delivery of mental health services across episodes of care within the medical center and community
• The incumbent assists with training all stakeholders on appropriate suicide risk evaluation and intervention for Veteran identified as at elevate risk for suicide
• Incumbent serves as point of contact for suicide prevention training for the overall facility but is the main point of contact for CBOCs
• provides ongoing site visits and consultations to ensure CBOC staff remain up to date with suicide prevention policies and procedures
• The incumbent assist with coordination and provision of postvention services to next of kin and staff members who are impacted by deaths by suicide
• The Suicide Prevention Coordinator ensures that outreach is conducted with community partners outside of the VA Medical Center in keeping with the public health model of early intervention and prevention of crisis by providing education and support to those outside of a healthcare environment
• The Suicide Prevention Coordinator also ensures that Veteran Crisis Line (VCL) requests are acted upon in the appropriate time frames
• The SPC facilitates enhanced care for those individuals who are seen for mental health concerns in the Emergency Department through the Safety Planning in the Emergency Department (SPED) intervention
• Suicide Prevention Coordinator also assists with providing outreach to Veterans identified at increased risk for adverse outcomes through the REACH VET program
• Provides clinical consultation regarding patients at high acute risk for suicide - reviews and assigns high risk flags and ensures connection to appropriate clinical care
• Serves as the suicide prevention representative for committee across the continuum of care
• The incumbent may also be assigned additional duties as needed within or outside of their specific program area of the Mental Health Service
• Work Schedule: Primarily Monday-Friday 8:00-4:30 (evenings/weekends occasionally for outreach events) Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): May be authorized to highly qualified applicants
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): May be authorized to highly qualified applicants
• Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases When setting pay - a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade)
• Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave - 13 days of sick leave - 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual - based on prior [work experience] or military service experience
• Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment - up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth - adoption - or foster care placement of a child
• Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment - full time employees with a total family income below $144 -000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66
• Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: ADHOC Functional Statement #: 000000