Summary

The Senior Social Worker will be responsible to assist Veterans with care coordination and discharging from inpatient Non-VA care facilities and returning to VA Care. The incumbent provides care coordination and case management to link patients to VA and Non-VA Medical and Behavioral Health Care services.

Qualifications

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/
• 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 Determination 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: Experience with complex discharging planning and care coordination requiring collaboration across multiple resources (preference for 3+ years demonstrated experience)
• Experience with mental health treatment - care coordination or discharge planning
• Strong collaboration skills to work effectively with both internal and external stakeholders Flexibility and adaptability to navigate changing priorities and perspectives across multiple systems
• Excellent customer service and communication skills to ensure respectful - solution-focused interactions with veterans - families and providers
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/
• Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 - Employee Occupational Health Services.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Major duties include - but are not limited to: Facilitates referrals based upon Veteran needs and eligibility - including coordinating screening of patients for specific VA programs such as HCHV - STARS - Outpatient Mental Health - Medical Foster Home and various programs within Geriatrics and Extended Care
• Able to coordinate community-based services as needed post hospitalization
• Independently identifies high-risk patients and provides clinically appropriate case management and care coordination services
• Provides crisis intervention services - seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint leading to hospitalization - as well as other psychosocial stressors identified
• Serves as a liaison between both VA and Non-VA Care health care professionals - as well as Veteran and caregivers
• Establishes and maintains effective working relationships with community hospital case management peers
• Incumbent is able to independently work with patients and families who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric - medical and social problems
• Independently provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of Veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plans
• Ability to evaluate the incumbent's own practice through professional peer review - case conferences and other organizational means
• Able to communicate effectively both orally and in writing - with people from varied backgrounds
• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday - 8:00am - 4:30pm 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) 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: Ad Hoc per agency policy Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 59628F