Social Worker

Summary

The Acute Medicine Social Worker works on a multi-disciplinary team working with hospitalized Veterans to provide them long-term care planning, financial resources, service navigation, care referrals and a variety of additional services.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Duties include: Independently perform case finding functions and outreach, identifying and screening patients for psychosocial needs. Implement treatment modalities and provide counseling or psychotherapy for individuals, families, and groups. Independently conduct psychosocial assessments and develop treatment plans in collaboration with the veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team. Offer psychosocial interventions and measure outcomes to interventions. Coordinate community-based services, include information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, other government programs, and community agency programs. Identify high-risk patients and provide case management services. Provide crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinate family conferences, and serve as liaison to family members. Apply working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures which include acute, chronic, and traumatic illnesses/injuries; common medications and their effects/side effects; and medical terminology. Establish and maintain effective therapeutic relationships with veterans and their families. Independently work with patients and families who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical, and social problems utilizing individual, group, and family counseling and therapy skills. Provide consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plans. Evaluate their own practice through professional peer review, case conferences, and other organizational means. Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with people from varied backgrounds. Apply general knowledge of veterans' benefits and services relating to special programs, service-connected compensation, and non-service-connected pension, and facilitates referrals based upon the veteran's needs and eligibility. Provide direct clinical social work services to patients and families, provide consultation to other services and to the community, and provide education to patients, families, and hospital staff on a wide range of topics. Is a member of an interdisciplinary team in an inpatient and outpatient setting. Facilitate discharge planning, and complete psychosocial assessments to identify patient needs and referral to appropriate VA and community resources, and case management services. Utilize working knowledge and skill in the use of word processing, data management, and other computer systems, especially those programs used by VHA. Work Schedule: 0800-1630 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: Federa…

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 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/. Exception. VHA may waive the licensure or certification requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of state prerequisites for licensure/certification examinations. This exception only applies at the GS-9 grade level. For the GS-11 grade level and above, the candidate must be licensed or certified. At the time of appointment, the supervisor, chief social work or social work executive will provide the unlicensed/uncertified social worker with the written requirements for licensure or certification, including the time by which the license or certification must be obtained and the consequences for not becoming licensed or certified by the deadline. Failure to Obtain License or Certification. In all cases, social workers must actively pursue meeting state prerequisites for licensure or certification starting from the date of their appointment. Failure to become licensed or certified within the prescribed amount of time (3 years) will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment. 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: Social Worker, GS-9 Experience, Education, and Licensure. None beyond the basic requirements. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Ability to work with Veterans and family members from various socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diversified backgrounds utilizing counseling skills. Ability to assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members, and to formulate and implement a treatment plan, identifying the Veterans problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and assistance needed. Ability to implement treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups to achieve treatment goals. This requires judgment and skill in utilizing supportive, problem solving, or crisis intervention techniques. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communicate with clients, staff, a…

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/.