Senior Social Worker

Summary

Senior Social Workers (SSWs) are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. SSWs typically practice in major specialty treatment programs, responsible for clinical program development and ensuring effectiveness. SSWs are assigned to settings without social work supervision, such as CBOCs or satellite clinics, addressing special patient populations with highly complex health or mental health problems requiring expert-level psychosocial interventions.

Duties

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Current permanent VA employees and Federal employees from other federal agencies should apply under announcement number CBST-12797858-26-DAY.

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The Senior Social Worker must have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, especially in crisis intervention and working with an interdisciplinary team. They will be using short-term, solution focused counseling with individuals and families who may be in crisis as well as providing education and referral for resources and benefits, case management, and post-intervention follow-up.

Major duties and responsibilities include :

• Provide psychosocial treatment;
• Independently assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members.
• Formulates and implements a treatment plan, identifying the patient's problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and assistance needed, in collaboration with the patient, family, and interdisciplinary treatment team.
• Independently provides a full range of assessment and evaluation services appropriate to the care setting.
• Works with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues to include patient's decision-making capacity regarding health care;
• Develops treatment plans to address the needs of patients.
• Creates plans of action to ensuring assessment and crisis intervention services are maximized based on circumstances and availability of resources.
• Conducts crisis intervention strategies, including assessment and diagnosis.
• Conducts outreach to vulnerable populations, including disadvantaged areas.
• Identifies impacted Veterans and connect them with VA and community resources.
• Assists with locating family members and loved ones.
• Assists with contacting hospitals or other relevant locations to locate medical records or emergency documentation
• Provide subject matter expertise in all phases of disaster response plans, including mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

Work Schedule : Monday-Friday, 8 : 00am-4 : 30pm or 7 : 30am-4 : 00pm (Subject to change based on the needs of the agency).

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 : Not Available

Virtual : This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 520-00706-F

Permanent Change of Station (PCS) : Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider :

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements :

Grade Determinations : In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade.

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.

Preferred Experience and Certifications

Reference : For more information on this qualification standard, please visit

The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements : Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation, see Duties section for essential job duties of the position. May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting, stooping, bending, puling, and pushing. May be required to wear personal protective equipment and undergo annual TB screening or testing as conditions of employment.

Work Environment : Work is performed in an office / clinic setting with minimal risks that requires normal safety precautions; the area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. However, the work environment requires someone with the ability to handle several tasks at once in sometimes stressful situations.

Education

IMPORTANT : A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note : Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here : If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit :

Additional information

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration / Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA / OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.