Job Description

Senior Social Worker - Hud/Vash Coordinator

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

Overview

Accepting applications. Opening and closing dates 10/21/2024 to 07/31/2025. Salary $110,531 - $143,696 per year. Pay scale & grade GS 12.

2 vacancies in the following locations: Casper, WY; Gillette, WY; Sheridan, WY.

Duties

• Performs specialized treatment of complex physical and/or mental illness in the VAMC or CBOC environment.
• Provides individual, group & family psychotherapy & advanced level case management interventions used in the treatment of veterans with polytrauma injuries, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, visual impairment, post-traumatic stress disorder, & other serious disorders.
• Develops & implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice & services in specialty areas, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services.
• Demonstrates the ability to teach & mentor staff & students in the special area of practice & to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications.
• Acts as a community & family liaison by initiating & maintaining necessary contact with the patient, his/her family, VAMC service programs & personnel, human resource agencies, mental health agencies, & other related resource agencies.
• Reviews all data, subjective & objective, & makes a clinical assessment, identifying needs & strengths.
• Ability to serve veterans who tend to have serious frequent & severe crises, lack family or an adequate community support network, be poor at self-monitoring, frequently fail to comply with instructions & treatment.
• Independently evaluates the client's situation, including the veteran's reaction to it & ability to deal with it, & arrives at a reasoned conclusion.
• Performs insightful assessment of serious & complicated eases involving psychiatric illness, catastrophic medical conditions, dementia & other high-risk diagnoses.
• On an inpatient/outpatient basis, finds a suitable means of treatment to help veterans and/or significant others cope with stressful situations. Treatment is aimed at helping veterans find practical solutions to problems.
• Develops psychosocial treatment plans actively involving the veteran & their family or significant other based on the psychosocial assessment including goals for clinical treatment.
• Adjusts the psychosocial treatment plan & interventions based on changing needs & response to interventions.
• Organizes community services on behalf of beneficiaries, developing & coordinating procedures for use of these services by related staff.
• Receives & completes consults requesting services from interdisciplinary team members & from other social workers on complex, difficult cases, using advanced practice skills & expertise.
• Establishes a continuing relationship with the veteran, evaluating progress towards goals & adjusting the treatment plan as appropriate.
• Documents independently in the clinical records utilizing paper and/or electronic formats, including psychosocial assessments, diagnostics, treatment, progress notes, follow up & referral.
• Manages the quality control & evaluation of the professional services provided.
• Serves as a mentor to other social workers, particularly those at the entry level.
• Serves as medical center's primary point of contact for the National INDNASH Program, Office of Mental Health Services, VACO.
• Establishes, implements, & maintains referral & screening procedures for potential HUDN ASH veteran participates that meet national policy.
• Conducts & participates in outreach activities including field interviews, assessments & referrals for homeless veterans contacted in the community, shelters, & "on the streets," as well as those who are referred by VA residential programs, medical centers our outpatient clinics.
• Assesses at risk factors & develops a preliminary plan, involving the veteran & family or significant others, & performs & insightful assessment of serious & complicated cases.
• Provides referral to VA medical & mental health inpatient & outpatient treatment & to other VA services including VA benefits, as well as community-based social services & other non-VA entitlement programs.
• Establishes procedures & coordinates the screening & admission process for the HUDVASH program.
• Assists veterans in maintaining appointments at VA medical centers & other community agencies for medical, psychiatric, substance abuse, vocational & other services.
• Has regular contact with staff from other VHA facilities, the VISN office & VA Central Office & is frequently involved in VISN & national VHA activities with VA homeless program peers & leaders & managers from other disciplines.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30 am to 4 pm. Telework: AD-HOC Available. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 55786-A. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized. EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.

Contact Linda.orchard@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more .

Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

Qualifications

***This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until December 31, 2024. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be November 4th, 2024 with subsequent cut-off dates on the 1st of each month. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur on an as-needed basis until positions are filled.***

Basic Requirements:

• Citizenship. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part).
• 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 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.
• Drivers License. Have a valid drivers license.

GS-12, Senior Social Worker:

• 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.

AND 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

Job Tags

Similar Jobs