Senior Social Worker

Summary

The Senior Social Worker will serve Veterans in community-based outpatient clinics throughout North Florida and South Georgia. This position requires advanced knowledge of the biopsychosocial, behavioral health, and mental health needs of Veterans and their families/caregivers. Responsibilities include psychosocial and mental health assessments, treatment planning, care coordination, case management, crisis intervention, and evidence-based psychotherapy.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU The Senior Social Worker will empower positive outcomes for Veterans and the healthcare system through independent clinical decision-making, expert case consultation, and advanced social work practice. As a leader, mentor, and educator, this position supports the development of frontline staff, provides clinical supervision and guidance, and helps shape the next generation of social workers through student oversight and training. Serving as a trusted subject matter expert, this role drives excellence in complex case management, care coordination, and professional education across the healthcare system. Functions include, but are not limited to: Utilize available data sources to proactively identify patients for screening/triage, assessment, treatment planning, case management and care coordination. Receive referrals from a variety of sources to include triage, consults, walk-in visits, phone calls, and warm hand-offs from internal and external stakeholders. Conduct comprehensive psychosocial and behavioral health assessments by integrating clinical findings to identify Veterans' strengths, needs, goals, and presenting concerns, and develop effective treatment and discharge plans that support recovery and well-being. Expand clinical knowledge in the profession by writing policies, standard operating procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area. Perform case findings in identifying and screening patients for psychosocial, behavioral health or mental health needs. Identify high-risk patients and provide case management, care coordination, crisis intervention, family conferencing, and liaison services to support treatment and care planning. Serve as a subject matter expert and provide consultation services to multidisciplinary colleagues and students regarding the psychosocial, behavioral health and mental health needs and treatment of Veterans Serve as a mentor and educator to social work students, promoting excellence in clinical practice, professional development, and Veteran-centered care. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of patient flow and healthcare system processes to ensure the efficient delivery of psychosocial, behavioral health, and mental health services within the assigned specialty area. Work Schedule: 8am - 4:30pm, Monday through Friday Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 52091F 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. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Education-Please submit transcript. 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 4 accreditation standards for a masters of social work. Licensure-Documentation Required. 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/ Grandfathering Provision. All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date (9/10/2019) of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. 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-Documentation Required. 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…

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/.