Senior Social Worker

Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional The PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) Outpatient Program is part of the Mental Health Care Line's Psychiatry Department's Mental Hygiene Clinic, located at the VA Connecticut Health Care Center, West Haven. The Social Worker in this position acts in the role of senior social worker to an interdisciplinary team of professionals and trainees working with Veterans with PTSD and/or anxiety, provides supervision and consultation, provides educational opportunities, provides direct patient care via individual and groups, participates in program development in consultation with the PTSD Firm Director, and provides administrative duties and reports related to such, as assigned by leadership Incumbent provides therapy/counseling (individual, couples, families, and groups) to veterans for issues related to PTSD and other complex and diverse psychosocial problems. Specific duties of this position include but are not limited to: The incumbent will conduct psychosocial assessments to determine needs of veterans and family members. Will be an active participant in the treatment planning process with other disciplines. Will participate in discharge planning with other disciplines and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely and appropriate. Will provide individual, family and group counseling as appropriate. The incumbent will provide consultation/education to veterans and families on community resources, advance directives and VA benefits. Will act as a consultant to other team/staff members. Will provide consultation/education to medical residents on social work practice and VA policy and procedure. Will act as liaison between VA and community resources, to include marketing and public relation duties as needed. The incumbent will provide case management to veterans and families, as needed, throughout the continuum of care. Will provide a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice which includes case work, individual, family and group counseling, discharge planning, case management and other services as appropriate. Will address Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of their work area. Will provide wellness/prevention education and facilitate Patient/family support groups as appropriate. Will as appropriate, supervise the practice of social work students, or a less experienced social worker. The incumbent will coordinate treatment and communicate with the care lines to facilitate continuity of care for veterans. The incumbent will participate in committee assignments, as deemed necessary by the service manager. Will maintain data and statistical compilations to comply with JCAHO, VA and medical center policy and procedures. Will assist patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability, terminal illness and death. Will document social work interventions and activities in patient's clinical record utilizing CPRS and ensure appropriate hand off when transferring of patient care. The incumbent will participate in a rotation of on-call social workers, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on weekends Work Schedule: Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact Hannah.Neilson@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more 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…

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. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. 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. 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 Master of Social Work. Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work 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. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade. 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 May qualify based on being…

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/.