Social Worker (Program Coordinator)

Social Worker (Program Coordinator)

The Finger Lakes Healthcare System has 1 vacancy for a Social Worker (Program Coordinator) at the Bath VA Medical Center within the Justice Outreach program. The Program Coordinator provides psychosocial assessments, case management services, continuous quality improvement activities, evaluation/consultation, placement services, and referral and linkage to various community agencies for Veterans who are within 6 months of release from correctional institutions and/or are being monitored by the courts, including treatment or problem solving courts.

Major duties include but are not limited to:

• Attends justice system staff trainings relevant to working with offenders and high risk populations and represents the VA at community meetings, seeking or maintaining membership on relevant boards, councils and task forces.
• Conducts justice-related staff development programs for mental health and other program staff, and provides opportunities for staff to update their mental health professional knowledge and practice skills.
• Conduct active outreach to Veterans involved with the justice system, including those who may be participants, or candidates for participation, in treatment court programs, including Veterans Courts.
• Advanced clinical training, insight and experience is utilized to interpret data and identify viable treatment options.
• Assesses high risk factors, acuity, and the need for services.
• Ability to serve Veterans who tend to have frequent and severe crises, lack family or an adequate community support network, be poor at self-monitoring, frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or have significant deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychosocial support.
• Identifies and interviews justice-involved Veterans in the appropriate setting to conduct needs assessment and determine appropriate referrals, linkage and coordination for VA and non-VA services to enhance function in the community, including in transition from jail or prison.
• Establishes a relationship with correctional medical and psychiatric leadership and personnel, where appropriate, to ensure continuity of care and for appropriate back-up, if needed, when encountering Veterans in a correctional institution.
• Provides referral and linkage to VA medical and mental health treatment and to other VA services including VA benefits, as well as community-based social services and other non-VA entitlement programs.
• Provides referrals or consults to other VA programs, including Grant and Per Diem programs, Health Care for Homeless Veterans contract residential treatment, Domiciliary or Psychiatric Residential Rehabilitation Programs, or Compensated Work Therapy or Supported Employment programs.
• Collaborates with county probation officers, prosecutors, public defenders, retained defense counsel, and parole officers as appropriate to develop a post-release plan and/or community based alternatives to incarceration.
• Participates in development of a treatment plan for each Veteran contacted through outreach. The treatment plan includes individualized goals and measurable objectives based on relevant psychological, medical, and psychiatric information.
• Conducts individual and family clinical interventions to facilitate the identification of substance abuse, psychiatric illness, and social needs as treatment issues.

Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday - Friday, 7:30am - 4:00pm

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. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).

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 per year). Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.

Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.

Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66

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.