Senior Social Worker

Summary

The incumbent in this position functions as the Senior Social Worker on the Inpatient Mental Health Unit at the Rocky Mountain Regional VAMC - within VA Eastern Colorado Health Care System (ECHCS) - Department of Veterans Affairs. The incumbent provides programmatic - compliance - and clinical services for the inpatient social work team - involving direct patient services and representation of the Inpatient Mental Health Unit within the VA and the community.

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
• 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
• Current state requirements may be found by going to
• May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria)
• 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 GS 0185 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: Experience/Education: The candidate must have at least two years of experience 9 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 - the candidate 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 providing case management and treatment planning on an inpatient psychiatric unit
• References: VA Handbook 5005 - Part II - Appendix G39
• The full performance level of this position is a GS-12
• Physical Requirements: The incumbent must be able to engage in personal safety skills and therapeutic containment methods from the Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior (PMDB) curriculum.

Duties

• The incumbent is an assigned case manager for Veterans admitted to the Inpatient Mental Health Unit (H2-IPU) and performs complex and independent services including evaluation of needs - connection to resources - disposition and discharge planning - recovery-based treatment planning - advanced safety planning for suicide prevention - facilitating unit recovery programming - gathering collateral data from families - and assisting with regulatory compliance aspects of quality assurance for care provided
• The incumbent must be skilled in working on and with an interdisciplinary team - for the purpose of patient care and program development
• Compliance includes but is not limited to Joint Commission and Office of Behavioral Health for the inpatient unit
• The Senior Social Worker provides programmatic coordination and clinical leadership to social workers within a complex inpatient setting
• The Senior Social Worker also provides clinical psychosocial treatment and case management services at an advanced practice level to eligible veterans and their family members
• Patient's healthcare and psychosocial problems are complex - may include comorbid medical and substance use concerns - and require a high degree of clinical oversight and creative problem-solving
• The Senior Social Worker must be able to provide supervision for subordinate staff needing to qualify for licensure
• The incumbent assists in planning - establishing - and implementing policies and procedures for staff operations
• developing individual or group goals and objectives
• The incumbent will be responsible for disseminating policies and procedures to the social work team
• to aid adherence to all current directives of VHA - current Joint Commission standards - State licensure standards - and VA-OIG standards set by governing bodies
• As a Senior Social Worker - the incumbent assists the Acute Programs Coordinator in planning - establishing - and implementing policies and procedures - as needed
• The incumbent tracks and adheres to all current directives of VHA and meets current Joint Commission as well as Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) standards - state licensure standards - and VA-OIG expectations
• The incumbent can be asked to assist with any or all the following: 1
• Assist with ongoing intensive reviews and appraisals to ensure the accomplishment of objectives and adherence to standards set by governing bodies
• 2
• Assist with compliance audits
• 3
• Develop individual - group and program goals and objectives
• 4
• Manage and control the use of data related to the program regarding day to day functioning for the purpose of process improvement
• 5
• Plan - organize and directs program operations - clinical practice - and patient activities for the program
• 6
• Assist in the identification of qualified MSW candidates for vacant positions and ongoing clinical support and consultation to social work staff on the Inpatient Mental Health Unit
• 7
• Develop policies and procedures for in the Inpatient Mental Health Unit
• 8
• Collect and report data related to staffing and resource allocation
• 9
• The incumbent performs other related duties as assigned
• The Incumbent will be trained to cover the Psychiatric Emergency Services (PES) clinic in the Rocky Mountain Regional Emergency Department (RMR ED) and may be deployed as needed to that area to complete crisis evaluations and admission assessments if H2-IPU capacity allows doing so safely and there is a critical staffing gap in PES
• The Senior Social Worker demonstrates an ability to expand clinical knowledge in the profession - provide consultation and guidance to colleagues - role model effective social work practice skills - teach or provide orientation to less experienced Social Workers - develop innovations in practice interventions - and provide clinical supervision for social work licensure
• The Senior Social Worker adheres to the NASW Code of Ethics
• The incumbent is responsible to the Acute Programs Coordinator - who in turn is responsible to the Section Chief of Behavioral Medicine - Acute and Residential Mental Health Services (BAR)
• There is matrix collaboration with the Chief of Social Work Service
• She/he practices independently - exercising initiative and independent judgment in day-to-day activities
• Supervision/consultation is of an administrative and professional nature
• with the BAR Section providing guidelines as to the general policy and direction of the program the incumbent coordinates
• In unusual and/or complex administrative and social work practice problems - the incumbent initiates consultation with the Chief - Social Work Service - as well as with other authoritative resources at the Medical Center
• Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m
• Telework: Available Ad-hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: SW-CLINPT-GS0185-12FS55304-0 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,321 health care facilities, including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,138 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics) to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of our medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision care. Some medical centers also offer advanced services such as organ transplants and plastic surgery.