Senior Social Worker (Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) and Same Day Access (SDA))
What you'd do
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.
Major duties
Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Functions Provide a full range of services within the Social Work Scope of Practice based on Veteran needs, acuity level, and preferences for care. Provide consultation and psychoeducation to Veterans and Veteran families on topics including community resources, Advance Directives, VA benefits, budgeting, activities of daily living, and recovery goals. Act as a consultant to other team/staff members and take a lead clinical role in case consultation. Document all Veteran care in the electronic health record. Ensure compliance with standards and expectations of Joint Commission, CARF, and other relevant accrediting bodies. Assist program leadership in accreditation preparation and continuous readiness activities as requested. Actively participate in program planning and development, advising the supervisor of shifting Veteran care needs and identifying the need for SOP or policy changes. Provide supervision to students, interns, or unlicensed Social Workers. Maintain familiarity and responsibility for all behavioral health performance measures. Assist in development and maintenance of operational plans and strategic goals related to these measures. Responsible for participation and leadership in process improvement, system redesign, and/or other applicable workgroups and committees, to include creation of standard work documents or strategic plan implementation. Take responsibility for improving professional competencies by participating training programs and continuing education. Complete all mandatory VA trainings in a timely manner. Provide training, education, and consultation to trainees, VA staff, and community partners as a subject matter expert in specialized practice area(s). Triage Veterans in SDA walk-in clinic, PES, and via phone/triage tool, and refer Veterans to needed VA and Community mental health and primary care and resources. Provide psychosocial and brief diagnostic assessments for Veterans with a broad range of mental health needs; assessing suicide risk and acuity, and creating safe connections to care based on Veteran needs, acuity level and preferences for care Refer to involuntary and voluntary mental health treatment, based on acuity and ability to safely connect to outpatient resources. Coordinate admissions to Inpatient Psychiatry; including tracking open beds, including Veterans in Psychiatric Emergency Services needing admission, pending inpatient psychiatry discharges, medical/surgical patients needing transfer to inpatient psychiatry, and Veterans in the community needing a transfer and admission at the Seattle VA. Demonstrate and use thorough knowledge of State laws regarding involuntary treatment and work closely with Designated Crisis Responders (DCRs) when appropriate. Serve as a consultant to team members, VA Staff, Community Partners and Veteran's existing outpatient providers and take a lead clinical role in case consultation. Provide training, education and consultation as a subject matter expert in specialized practice area(s). Clinically supervise students, interns and/or unlicensed staff on acute mental health assessments in both SDA and PES. Participate in facility committees relevant to Acute Mental Health. Provide training, education, and consultation to trainees, VA staff, and community partners related to specialized practice areas as a subject matter expert. Perform other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8am-4:30pm 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 [email protected] for questions/assistance. Learn more Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases 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: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 000000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized
What you need to qualify
NOTE: THE 2-PAGE RESUME REQUIREMENT DOES NOT APPLY TO THIS OCCUPATIONAL SERIES. FOR MORE INFORMATION, REFER TO REQUIRED DOCUMENTS BELOW. To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement. 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/. Loss of Licensure or Certification: Once licensed or certified, social workers must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment. Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment. English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). 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: Senior Social Worker, 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. 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. 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. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: There are no physical requirements for this occupation per OCHCO Communications email to VA Handbook 5019, updated on 4/17/2026.
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