Senior Social Worker- Emergency Room, Psychiatric Unit and Acute Care

The Senior Social Worker may be the sole practitioner in this specialty at VAWCHCS and provides direct patient care services across multiple program areas. The Senior Social Worker oversees the daily operation of assigned programs, develops policies and procedures for program operations, and prepares reports and statistics for VA WCHCS, the Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN), and national use.

Major duties

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU

• Independently works within the interdisciplinary treatment team to develop a treatment plan
• Conducts and completes a comprehensive assessment in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, Veteran, family members, and significant others as appropriate.
• Understands the range of treatment and skills needed for all Veterans, including visually impaired and geriatric Veterans, related to their physical limitations, psychological needs, age associated illnesses, and conditions.
• Understands the problems of advancing age with respect for the diversification of the aging Veteran population, being sensitive to human growth and development, age-appropriate needs and concerns of geriatric Veterans, and be able to provide current and advanced techniques to the treatment of the Veteran population.
• Independently make rapid assessments and develop crisis management plans for referral/admission to mental health inpatient programs.
• Provides the veterans and their caregivers with ongoing supportive counseling.
• Collaborates with other service providers in assessing and reassessing Veteran needs.
• Responsible for educating Veterans and/or caregivers of the available services and assisting them in establishing the appropriate referrals based on the Veteran's preference or that of their surrogate decision-maker.
• Establishs and maintains positive working relationships with employees, volunteers, consumers and stakeholders within the VA and outside community agencies.
• Participates in developing new programs within the Acute Care setting.
• Collaborates with staff in mental health, substance use, community home health, hospice teams, and other allied healthcare professions to address the end-of-life, mental health, psychosocial, and spiritual needs of Veterans, families, and caregivers.
• Coordinates with home hospice, CLC, other long-term care facilities or skilled nursing facilities, dialysis centers, and/or contract remote medical providers.
• Coordinates and communicates care needs with inpatient and outpatient interdisciplinary teams.
• Collaborates with other service providers in reassessing the veteran's needs.
• Responsible for educating the veteran and/or caregiver of the available services and assisting them in establishing the appropriate referrals based on the veteran's preference or that of his surrogate decision-maker.
• Develops an assessment of the veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the veteran, family members and significant others. The goal of the assessment is to highlight the veteran's strengths, limitations, and internal/external supports and service needs in order to optimize the veteran's functional status.
• Demonstrates an understanding of the range of treatment and skills needed for all adult patients including visually impaired and geriatric patients related to their physical limitations, psychological needs and age associated illnesses and conditions.
• Understands the problems of advancing age and diversification of the aging veteran population, being sensitive to human growth and development, age-appropriate needs and concerns of the geriatric veteran and be able to provide current and advanced techniques to the treatment of this veteran population.
• Develops treatment plans and set achievable treatment goals with the veteran/family.
• Updates the treatment plan if there is a change in the patient's condition or needs
• Reviews the progress notes from the other providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each veteran being referred for social work services.
• Educates the veteran, their families, and the team of all the options available to them and will collaborate with the veteran and family on the preferred option.
• Assists in identifying the health education needs of Veterans and their families or caregivers and works with the interdisciplinary team to develop a plan to address health education needs.
• Provides specialized health and psychosocial education services to the Veteran, family, and/or caregivers.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8 am to 4:30 pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 615292-O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS):Not Authorized

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: 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 3 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/. English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f)

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:

• 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.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: Must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. Social Worker must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the social worker or others. This position requires a valid state driver's license and local travel to provide community-based care to Veterans. The position requires significant travel in the community, through use of a government vehicle or other individual arrangements, to meet with representatives/stakeholders who provide assistance and support to Veterans in clinics, medical centers, Community Clinics, etc. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; and repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.

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: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Requirements

You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959. Must be proficient in written and spoken English. Subject to background/security investigation. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP). Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement. 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: your performance and conduct; the needs and interests of the agency; whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service. 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.