Senior Social Worker

Summary

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. Program 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.

Duties

Help

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The Senior Social Worker practices in the Behavioral Health & Sciences (BH&S) clinical settings to provide mental health services as the licensed clinical social worker. In this position the duties may include serving as the case / care manager and psychotherapist to a patient population with highly complex health and mental health problems. The Senior Social Worker is assigned to work within an interdisciplinary team to provide these services ensuring Veterans timely access to mental health and psychosocial services. Major duties include, but are not limited to :

• Conducting psychosocial assessments to determine needs of Veterans and family.
• Serving as an active participant in interdisciplinary treatment planning, to include creation and review of treatment plans, as needed.
• Participating in interdisciplinary discharge planning, as needed, and ensure that discharge plans are executed in a timely and appropriate manner.
• Providing individual, family, and group counseling as needed.
• Providing consultation and education services to Veterans and families regarding community resources, advance directives, and VA benefits.
• Acting as a consultant for interdisciplinary team members.
• Providing consultation and education to medical residents, interns, and other VAMC personnel regarding social work practice and associated VA policies and procedures.
• Acting as a marketing and public relations liaison for VA and community resources.
• Providing case management to Veterans and families, as needed, throughout the continuum and course of care.
• Providing the full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of practice, including : case work; individual, family, and group counseling; discharge planning; case management; and other needed services.
• Addressing Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with VAMC standards.
• Providing wellness / prevention education and associated support groups.
• Coordinating treatment and communicate with care lines about continuity of care.
• Provide guidance and mentoring for social work interns / students and less experienced social workers.
• Participating in committees as assigned.
• Maintaining data and statistics to comply with Joint Commission, VHA, and VAMC policies and procedures. Help as needed to prepare for associated reviews and surveys.
• Helping patients and significant others cope and deal with the psychosocial issues and the loss and grief associated with disability, terminal illness, and death.
• Documenting social work interventions and activities in each patient's clinical record utilizing CPRS and ensure appropriate hand off when transferring patient care.
• Participating in a rotation of on-call social workers, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on weekends, as needed.
• Performs additional duties as assigned

Work Schedule : 8 : 00am-4 : 30pm, Monday-Friday with on call coverage as necessary. Note : There may be instances when your tour of duty, work location and responsibilities may change to meet the needs of the Medical Center.

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus) : Not authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance) : Not authorized

EDRP Authorized : Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact VHAVISN04HREDRP@va.gov, for questions / assistance. Learn more

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.

Requirements

Help

Conditions of employment

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 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

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 :

Grade Determinations : In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Senior Social Worker, GS-12 :

Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to : assessing and documenting identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and / or intimate partner violence; use of clinical social work skills; maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality per policies, handbooks or directives; acting as an advocate with appropriate community service providers and agencies when it serves the best interest of the patient and family members / caregiver; independently assessing the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members, identifying the patient's strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and psychosocial acuity. Applicable experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice. Applicable experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice.

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.

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

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is above the full performance level.

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

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave : Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

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.

Help

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.

Review our benefits

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.