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

• The Oklahoma City VA Health Care System, Mental Health Service, is currently recruiting for (1) Senior Social Worker to help care for our Veterans at the Broadway Community Based Outpatient Clinic. This is a multi-disciplinary position and selections can be made from the following, Staff Psychologist, Senior Social Worker, and Senior Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor. Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional This social work position requires a high level of advanced practice skills and clinical judgment as this individual function within the Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) in the Ambulatory Mental Health Clinic (AMHC). The social worker will participate in weekly BHIP team meetings/huddles and identifying complex cases for clinical staffing, listen to monthly BHIP technical assistance calls, interface with mental and non- mental health providers for BHIP model implementation. This position may assist with processing and placing consults and assessing patients in crisis including front-line suicide assessment and prevention, assessing, and arranging for treatment of patients who require referral to acute and sub-specialty mental health units (substance abuse, TRS, Into VA, ICMHRS, PRRC, etc.), and treating a wide variety of mental health diagnosis as well as personality disorders and other mental disorders. Services provided include individual and group psychotherapy, and psychoeducational classes, triage/consults, assessment, crisis intervention, advocacy, and coordination of linkages to other appropriate VA or community service providers/agencies/resources as needed by the client. Other duties include but are not limited to: May perform consult/triage duties as scheduled by the Program Manager. In addition to scheduled and unscheduled walk-in appointments for Veterans referred from Primary Care Mental Health staff, physicians in specialized clinics, other medical clinics (i.e., Alzheimer's clinic, C&L), incumbent responds to appropriate requests to perform initial assessments/open access visits of veterans. Following interviews with the Veteran, incumbent independently performs assessments, diagnoses, arranges for medication assessments or further medical evaluations with psychiatrists, coordinates care, makes referrals to VA or community resources, and recommends further treatment either within the AMHC or to other specialty clinics/inpatient units in the VA Medical center. Completes a comprehensive intake/ psychosocial assessment of the veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the Veteran, family members and significant others as appropriate. Based upon the psychosocial assessment, the social worker will use advanced level of professional judgment and practice skills to make DSM - 5 diagnosis. Responsible for carrying a caseload of complex individual therapy cases for Veterans with mental health disorders, co-occurring disorders and psychosocial needs. Less complex cases are treated through psycho-educational classes. Provides psychoeducational classes for veterans as agreed upon by the social worker and the Mental Health Clinic Program Manager. These classes typically utilize cognitive behavioral treatment approaches to treat less-complex cases of depression, anxiety, anger, etc. Incumbent may also participate in creating class topics and in program planning for additional groups as well as implementing new groups as needed. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00.a.m - 4:30 p.m. Compressed/Flexible: Not available Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases 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 p…

Qualifications

Basic Requirements: English Proficiency Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Citizenship Must be a citizen of the United States. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with 38 U.S.C. § 7407(a). Education: 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. 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 SW Licensure Summary by State https://www.aswb.org/licenses/how-to-get-a-license/licensing-requirements-by-state-or-province/. 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. Grandfathering Provision: The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title 38 hybrid qualification standards. Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation. All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date 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. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation. If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. § 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation. NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection. If they choose to return at a later date to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker. Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker,GS-12 (Above the Full Performance Level) GS 12 Education and Experience. 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.…

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/.