Senior Social Worker
What you'd do
The Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) Social Work Lead is administratively responsible for clinical program oversight, program effectiveness and service pattern modification for social work services provided within the Patient Care Services. The Social Work Lead assures high quality, professional clinical social work services are provided to Veterans, their families, and caregivers in the assigned primary care program within the Tomah VA and community-based outpatient clinics (CBOC's).
Major duties
Clinical Works independently with Veterans and their families who are experiencing a wide range of complicated medical, psychiatric, emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial problems using his/her educational training, clinical experience, VA policies and accreditation standards in administering direct services. Applies advanced interpersonal communication, evidence-based knowledge, and clinical expertise to guide the interdisciplinary team in the appropriate use of clinical services and to enhance the continuity of care and process improvement. Ability to complete thorough assessments to determine the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and/or their families, caregivers, or survivors. Experience in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for deferral of or admission or to mental health inpatient programs. Utilize accurate data, relevant research, literature, and evidence-based guidelines to maintain and improve processes Veteran outcomes. Facilitate community placements through collaboration with Veterans and their families or caregivers as well as interdisciplinary treatment team member to ensure that appropriate community placements are completed in a timely manner. Participate in late night Urgent Care coverage. Participate in the rotation of on-call social workers, including modification of tour of duty accommodate Veteran care needs on weekends, if indicated. Provide mentorship and clinical supervision to enrich social work knowledge and skills to competently provide quality care and improved clinical outcomes. Administrative Attend all appropriate staff meetings. Collaborate in performance improvement processes and comply with performance measures as required by the VA for their specific population and/or program. Serve on committees and work groups at the facility as deemed appropriate. Participate in monthly Peer Review process. Perform other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday; 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 00352F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
What you need to qualify
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: 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. 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. Preferred Experience: Patient Align Care Team experience within VHA. 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. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.
Before you apply
Federal applications are different: your resume should be 3–5 pages and mirror the language of this announcement. Read our federal resume guide first — it's the #1 reason qualified people get screened out.
Don't miss the next one.
Get an email the moment a similar federal job opens — postings can close in as little as 5 days.