Senior Social Worker (Program Coordinator) - Medical Foster Home Program
What you'd do
The Medical Foster Home (MFH) Program is administered locally under the direction of the Extended Care Social Work Service. The MFH coordinator provides community placements to eligible Veterans not in need of hospital or nursing home care, but who, because of medical and/or psychosocial health conditions, are not able to live independently. These individuals have no suitable family or significant others to provide the needed supervision or supportive care.
Major duties
The incumbent is responsible for the overall function of the MFH program at the Washington DC VA Medical Center. The MFH Coordinator is responsible for maximizing psychosocial quality of life issues in order to assist veterans to remain in a home environment, in a less restrictive level of care other than a nursing home and keep them out of the hospital as often as possible. The incumbent oversees program development, recruitment, and oversight of the residential homes, recruitment and placement of Veteran residents, case management, development of policies and care processes, and coordination with the various interdisciplinary treatment teams throughout the continuum of care. Major duties to include, but not limited to: Accountable for selecting homes and residents, establishing intake processes, establishing oversight responsibilities Maintaining a record-keeping system for the program. accountable for selecting homes and residents, establishing intake processes, establishing oversight responsibilities, and maintaining a record-keeping system for the program. Coordinates and/or conducts interdisciplinary inspections of all facilities as required by policy. Coordinates monthly IDT meetings, collects, interprets, analyzes and reports data as required. Prepares reports for administration, documenting program specific data. Included with this is completing mandated national Program Office and Veteran Integrated Services Network (VISN) required reports. Provide education about the model of care and provide outreach to community groups and agencies to promote the MFH program. Serves as a mentor to other VA MFH program coordinators, social workers, and other interested health care providers. Provides education to students, residents and interns from other disciplines regarding the benefits of a residential placement in a MFH approved home and training to MFH caregivers and staff Receives and completes referrals from other VA programs, VA interdisciplinary teams, other VA social workers and non-VA programs on complex, difficult cases, using advanced practice skills and expertise. Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00am - 4:30pm EST Compressed/Flexible: Not Authorized Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized 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 Authorized Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 688-260471-F Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): 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. You must be proficient in spoken and written English as required 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 tohttp://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. NOTE: Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision forlicensure. 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: Social Worker (Program Coordinator), GS-12 Licensure Requirement: You must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Experience Requirement: You must possess one year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Examples of specialized experience at the GS-11 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. Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, you must demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities: Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation, negotiation, and monitoring. Knowledge and ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program. Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program. Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area(s). Ability to provide training, orientation, and guidance within clinical practice. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position involve active listening, reading, observing and evaluating verbal and nonverbal behavior, walking, speaking, bending, carrying light items such as paper, books, small parts, writing reports, writing clinical notes, using office equipment such as computers, telephones, fax machines, photocopy machines, and possibly driving an automobile. The work is performed in an urgent care clinical setting that exposes the incumbent to the communicable disease common to the diseases that are present within the Specialty Outpatient Mental Health Clinic or Urgent Care Clinic. Strenuous physical activity is not required.
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