Senior Social Worker (Veterans Justice Outreach) - Recruitment/Relocation Incentive may be offered.

The Senior Social Worker serves as a Veterans Justice Programs (VJP) Specialist and functions as a community-facing outreach clinician in accordance with VHA Directive 1162.06. The incumbent is responsible for outreach, identification, engagement, treatment matching assessment, referral, linkage, systems coordination, and short-term case management for justice-involved Veterans in criminal justice settings including jails, prisons, courts, and community supervision environments.

Major duties

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional The primary purpose of the position is to facilitate access to appropriate VA and community-based services, promote stabilization, and reduce risk of homelessness and recidivism. The VJP Specialist works in partnership with criminal justice agencies, community organizations, and VA clinical programs to support successful community reintegration. The VJP Specialist is licensed at the independent practice level and practices within professional scope. While capable of diagnostic formulation within scope of practice, the primary focus of the role is outreach, engagement, coordination, and facilitation of care rather than serving as a primary outpatient psychotherapist. Ongoing clinical treatment responsibility transfers to receiving VA programs once the Veteran is engaged in care, consistent with VHA Directive 1110.04( 1 ), Integrated Case Management Standards of Practice. The incumbent is administratively responsible for daily operation of the VJP program, data management, and compliance with national program monitoring requirements. The Senior Social Worker conducts active outreach to justice-involved Veterans in jails, prisons, courts, and community supervision settings. Outreach activities include field interviews, identification of Veterans through approved processes, coordination with correctional staff, and provision of education regarding VA services. establishes and maintains professional relationships with judges, officers of the court, probation and parole officers, correctional administrators, law enforcement agencies, and community partners to ensure access to justice-involved Veterans and continuity of care. conducts psychosocial treatment-matching assessments to identify biopsychosocial needs and determine appropriate referrals to VA and community-based services, to include:

• Assessing risk factors, acuity, and stabilization needs.
• Developing individualized referral and engagement plans.
• Facilitating linkage to medical, mental health, substance use disorder, housing, employment, peer support, and other supportive services.
• Providing consultation regarding engagement strategies and clinical needs.

Duties are continued in the Education Section

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8 AM - 4:30 PM

Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): A Recruitment or Relocation incentive may be offered at the discretion of the Hiring Manager to highly qualified candidate. Incentives are considered on a case by case basis. Incentives must be approved by the Medical Center Director or designee before being offered to individual candidates. The incentive must be approved, and an incentive agreement must be signed before Entry on Duty (EOD). VA Handbook 5007/58 June 22, 2020 PART VI CHAPTER 2, Page VI-8 Recruitment Incentives. Recruitment incentives may be authorized to full-time, part time[,] or intermittent individuals in their first appointment as a Federal employee or to a newly appointed former Federal employee with at least a 90-day break in service Relocation Incentives. Relocation incentives may be authorized to full-time Federal employees who must change worksite[s] and physically relocate to a different geographic area when the approving official determines that without the incentive, it would be difficult to fill the position with a high-quality candidate.

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). This may be requested at the hiring manager's discretion and requires facility director approval to be offered.

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: Ad-hoc Telework is available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 55020-F

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Qualifications

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: You must possess 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. Note: A doctoral degree in Social Work may NOT be substituted for the master's degree in Social Work.
• License or Certification: You must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. 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-0185-12

Licensure Requirement: You 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 must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Advanced practice level social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which includes 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. All states except California use a series of licensure exams administered by the ASWB. Information can be found at https://www.aswb.org/.

Experience Requirement: You must possess 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. 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. In addition to the experience above, you must demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• 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.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience providing direct clinical social work services to justice-involved Veterans, including biopsychosocial assessment, crisis intervention, treatment planning, and care coordination for individuals with co-occurring Substance Use Disorder (SUD) and Serious Mental Illness (SMI).
• Experience conducting outreach and identification of justice-involved Veterans across criminal justice settings, including jails, courts, and correctional facilities, and coordinating VJO consults, CPRS documentation, and referral/linkage processes in accordance with program and reporting requirements.
• Experience providing training, guidance, and clinical consultation to interdisciplinary staff and justice system partners regarding evidence-based practices relevant to justice-involved populations, such as Motivational Interviewing and Seeking Safety
• Experience developing and maintaining collaborative partnerships with courts, judges, attorneys, probation and parole officers, law enforcement, and correctional administrators to support Veteran diversion, treatment court participation, and continuity of care.
• Advanced clinical knowledge with the ability to exercise independent judgment in complex or high-risk justice-involved situations and provide consultation on psychosocial needs to interdisciplinary team members and court partners. (LCSW required; two years of post-LCSW experience is not required.)
• Experience conducting program audits, chart reviews, or quality/performance monitoring activities to ensure VJO documentation, court reporting, and service delivery meet regulatory, confidentiality (e.g., 38 U.S.C. Section 7332, 42 CFR Part 2), and accreditation requirements.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: Individuals who are required to operate a government owned or leased vehicle to successfully carry out their assigned duties must be medically cleared prior to appointment. Assessment must be made for any acute or chronic medical/physical condition or medication use which interferes with the ability operate the appropriate Government-owned or -leased vehicle safely and without undue risk to themselves or others. The following requirements must be met:

• distant vision 20/40 in one eye with or without correction,
• field of vision 70 degrees,
• ability to distinguish red, green and amber,
• whispered voice at five feet,
• or average hearing loss of not greater than 40 dbs. at 500, 1000 and 2,000 Hz.

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/. You must possess 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. Note: A doctoral degree in Social Work may NOT be substituted for the master's degree in Social Work. NOTE: If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application. NOTE: If your school was accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) at the time of graduation but is no longer listed on the CSWE website (https://www.cswe.org/accreditation/about/directory/), you must provide documentation of accreditation with your application packet.

Duties Continued:

• provides short-term case management when clinically indicated, particularly for: Veterans participating in Veterans Treatment Courts, Veterans transitioning from incarceration, and Veterans requiring stabilization support to engage in VA services.
• serves as the VA liaison to criminal justice partners
• participates as a member of Veterans Treatment Court teams when applicable.
• provides treatment progress updates with appropriate authorization.
• ensures compliance with privacy and release-of-information standards.
• does not influence criminal justice outcomes, charging decisions, or provide legal advocacy
• engages in non-clinical program development activities to include:
• Negotiating and maintaining access to correctional facilities,
• Participating in community reentry boards and planning committees,
• Providing education and training to VA staff and community stakeholders,
• Developing innovative outreach strategies,
• Coordinating with VJP Specialists across VISNs to ensure continuity of care for Veterans relocating between jurisdictions.
• Documents clinical contact and relevant treatments
• Completes mandated reporting and national program monitory requirements

Workload expectations account for:

• Travel to jails, prisons, and courts,
• Court participation and criminal justice collaboration,
• Community liaison and systems coordination,
• Outreach development activities,
• and Administrative documentation and reporting requirements.

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.
• Must pass pre-employment pre-placement evaluation/examination to operate a government vehicle.
• Valid driver's license required.
• 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.