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.
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. 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 tohttp://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 tohttp://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation September 10, 2019 (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: (a)Ability to utilize counseling skills when working with Veterans and family members. (b)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. (c)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. (d)Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communicate with clients, staff, and representatives of community agencies. (e) Fundamental knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic, and traumatic illnesses/injuries; common medications and their effects/side effects; and medical terminology. Social Worker, GS-11 Experience and Licensure. Appointment to the GS-11 grade level requires completion of a minimum of one year of post-MSW experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the field of health care or other social work-related settings, (VA or non-VA experience) and licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level. Education. In addition to meeting basic requirements, a doctoral degree in social work from a school of social work may be substituted for the required one year of professional social work experience in a clinical setting. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a)Knowledge of community resources, how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services, and ability to coordinate services. (b)Skill in independently conducting psychosocial assessments and treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, educational, and other backgrounds. (c)Knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures (i.e. acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology) to formulate a treatment plan. (d)Skill in independently implementing different treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical, and social problems to achieve treatment goals. (e)Ability to provide consultation services to new social workers, social work graduate students, and other staff about the psychosocial needs of patients and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and compliance with treatment. 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: (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. Preferred Experience: Experience working with individuals with severe and persistent mental illness. Experience with civil commitment. Experience providing mental health treatment in a community setting. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Provide Veterans with serious mental illness (SMI) with intensive recovery-oriented mental health services that enable them both to live meaningful lives and in the community of their choosing. ICMHR Veterans have a diagnosis of SMI, are most often inadequately served by clinic-based outpatient treatment and have high resource usage including frequent hospital use and high vulnerability. - Serve as the social work point of contact for specialized consultation related to the needs of those enrolled in ICMHR. - Provide consultation to Veterans with complex mental health, medical, co-morbid disorders or who display increased risk for mild to moderate disruptive behavior. - Collaborate and work with VASLCHCS multi-disciplinary teams and community agencies to develop effective and efficient ways of delivering healthcare services to Veterans enrolled in ICMHR. - Participate in discharge planning. - Coordinate care including serving as an advocate on behalf of the Veteran. - Act as liaison between VA and community resources - Conduct initial psychosocial assessments and update as clinically appropriate to determine needs of Veterans and family members. - Provide appropriate services based on Veterans' needs, acuity level, and preferences for care. - Provide management, coordination, and provision of psychosocial and mental health services to Veterans and their families in inpatient, outpatient, and community settings. - Provide individual, family and group education and counseling as appropriate. - Provide trainings to staff related to coding, electronic health record documentation. - Function as the subject matter expert for their ICMHR team. - Provide consultation/education to Veterans and families on community resources, advance directives, and VA benefits. - Act as a consultant to other team/staff members as it relates to social work scope of practice. - Provide wellness/prevention education and facilitate patient/family support groups as appropriate. - Manage a complex caseload of Veterans. - Provide evidence-based and recovery-oriented practices. - Collect and submit participant data as outlined by NEPEC evaluation procedures. - Utilize psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery practices and other evidence-based practice models to promote Veteran engagement and self-efficacy - Actively participate in program planning and development, advising the supervisor of shifting trends with caseloads and identifying the need for and making recommendations on program procedure or policy changes based upon work experiences. - Be responsible for and engage in professional development, participate in strategic program planning, and execute staff development projects to improve service delivery for ICMHR. - Maintain data and statistical compilations to comply with JC, CARF, VA and medical center policy and procedures. - Document social work interventions and activities in patient's clinical record also, ensure appropriate hand off when transferring of patient care. - Address Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of their work area. - Assist Veterans and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability, terminal illness, and death. - Support and assist other social workers in the ICMHR program by providing mentorship and participating in home or community visits when Veteran has a complex presentation. - Provide orientation, coaching, staff development and will model the advanced level of practice to other social workers. I - Actively participate in the ICMHR Program conference calls and attend training offered by the National ICMHR Program. - Follow VHA Handbooks, local policy, and SOP for the Medical Center and ICMHR/MHICM Services. This includes following policies and documentation requirements as required for CARF and TJC accreditation. - Act as surrogate to the ICMHR Program Manager, for electronic health record purposes, cosigning notes/consults/orders and providing clinical guidance when appropriate or necessary. - Participate in committee assignments, as deemed necessary by the service manager. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8am-4:30pm 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 vha.elrsprogramsupport@va.gov , the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 56468-0 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized