Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration Hiring for Senior Social Worker (PCT) at Columbia, Missouri Full Time

Summary Senior Social workers have experience that demonstrates advanced practice skills and judgment. At least two years should be in an area of specialized social work practice. The Senior Social Worker for whom this functional statement applies is assigned to the Behavioral Health (BH) Service Line at the Harry S Truman Memorial Veterans Hospital (Truman VA) and provides services on the PTSD Clinical Team. Responsibilities Duties include, but are not limited to: Clinical Responsibilities Performs comprehensive, trauma-informed biopsychosocial assessments for Veterans and family members with complex physical and behavioral disorders to determine the nature of the presenting problem, biological, social, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral factors related to the presenting problem, and the impact of the presenting problem on the Veteran’s physical, social, emotional, recreational, and occupational functioning. Uses advanced clinical training to select, utilize, and interpret appropriate outcome measures. Integrates all subjective and objective data into a comprehensive assessment that informs treatment planning. Diagnosis Based on the psychosocial assessment and using advanced practice expertise, incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses. Treatment Planning Develops, implements, and documents the psychotherapeutic treatment plan for an assigned caseload of patients, including prompt completion of clinical reminders. The incumbent formulates a mutually agreed upon treatment plan, which includes measurable goals, objectives, and treatment methods based upon the psychological assessment. The treatment plan is used to direct a course of treatment, is individualized to include patient preferences, and reflects a multidisciplinary approach to care (as clinically indicated). The plan is updated annually or more frequently if there is a change in the patient’s condition or needs. Therapeutic Intervention Utilizes appropriate therapeutic techniques or combinations of techniques to provide Evidence-Based and Recovery-Oriented treatment to Veterans with complex mental health needs within outpatient and inpatient settings. The incumbent provides the full range of therapeutic interventions, including education, individual and/or family psychotherapy, and group psychotherapy to patients, family members, and significant others, as clinically indicated. Coordinates assessment and screening of patients for specific mental health programs, including the Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team, and provides referrals to internal and external therapeutic resources, as clinically indicated. Outcome Measurement Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Incumbent designs and implements changes based on empirical findings. Outcome tools used may include, but are not limited to patient self-report, standardized inventories, fiscal measures, and SAIL/performance measure data. Consultation Serves as an integral member of the PTSD Clinical Team to provide accessible, integrated, biopsychosocial health care services to patients served by the team and the BH Service. Administrative Responsibilities Designs, develops, and implements local PTSD Clinical Team clinical programming, and executes ongoing program evaluation and data-driven quality improvement projects to monitor the effectiveness of social work clinical programming. The incumbent facilitates liaisons with other health care programs in order to effectively coordinate and improve services. Coordinates Social Work services with other services offered in the treatment program assuring such services are complementary and comprehensive. Directs activities to maximize effectiveness, efficiency, and continuity of care for Veterans. Provides case management services to those Veterans at high social or medical risk, serving as the liaison to other treatment programs. Represents the program in contacts with other agencies and the public. Teaching and Training Provides orientation and on-going training to Social Workers and interdisciplinary team members. Conducts staff development programs for Social Workers and takes responsibility for providing opportunities to help staff update their Social Work practice skills and acquire new knowledge in contemporary treatment modalities. Serves as a mentor to other Social Workers, particularly those at the entry level. Provides clinical supervision for unlicensed Social Workers and for Social Work associates. Is viewed by Social Workers and interdisciplinary team members as a senior clinician with advanced practice skills and expertise. Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Requirements Conditions of Employment Qualifications To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 03/14/2022. 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/. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Grade Determinations: (1) 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. (2) 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. (3) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) 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. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) 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. (d) 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. (e) 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. (4) Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. References: VA Handbook 5005/23, PART II, APPENDIX G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard, This can be found in the local Human Resources Office. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12 Physical Requirements: The work is sedentary. Some work may require walking, standing, bending. The employee frequently carries light items such as employee files or other papers. The work does not require any special physical effort. Although strenuous physical activity is not required, the incumbent is expected to withstand pressure and stress as part of their day-to-day activities. Education IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html. Additional Information This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status. VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members. If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.