Senior Social Worker

Summary

The Muskogee - OK VA - Senior Social Worker is currently recruiting one (1) Senior Social Worker for Social Worker service

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• United States 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 4 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 English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f) Loss of Licensure or Certification: Once licensed or certified - social workers must maintain a full - valid - and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment
• Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment
• 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
• GRADE DETERMINATIONS: In addition to the basic requirements for employment - the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates
• 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: 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
• Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice
• 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
• 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
• 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: Substance Abuse counseling
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit
• This vacancy is posted above the full performance level at the GS-12 level Physical Requirements
• See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 - Employee Occupational Health Services.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Treatment Planning/Goal Setting - The social worker is responsible for developing the treatment planing Resource Usage/Development - Responsible for using the current behavioral medicine resource file of VA and community social service programs and enhancing the content to the benefit of Veterans
• Advocacy -understands the complexity of bureaucracy and will act as an advocate when it serves the best interest of the Veteran/family
• Crisis Intervention -provides crisis intervention - stabilization - and follow-up for Veterans and significant others including evaluation and management of suicidal/homicidal patients and other psychiatric emergencies
• Education/Health promotion and prevention - Provides education related to VA and community resources - entitlements - Coordination of non-institutional and institutional services - Reviews the progress notes from the other providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each Veteran being
• Supportive counseling -Provides the Veterans and their caregivers with ongoing supportive counseling
• Content development- Develops content for individual - marriage - family - couples and group therapy
• Resource Usage/Development The social worker will refer the Veteran to needed services as determined by Veteran's needed level of care
• Advocacy - Social worker understands the complexity of bureaucracy and will act as an advocate when it serves the best interest of the Veteran/family
• Crisis Intervention - Social worker is experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for admission to residential and dual disorder inpatient programs and detoxification services
• Education/Health promotion and prevention - Social worker provides education related to VA and community resources - entitlements - Advance Directives/Living Will and will refer Veterans/families/couples to the appropriate service provider for identified health education needs
• Coordination of non-institutional and institutional services - The social worker will review the progress notes from the other providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each Veteran being referred for SUD/Marriage/Family/Couples counseling services
• The social worker will work with other disciplines to coordinate the most effective care that can be provided
• Supportive counseling - Social worker will provide the Veterans and their caregivers with ongoing supportive counseling
• The purpose of such counseling is to deal with the psychosocial impact of coping with addiction - relapse - recovery - and interpersonal relationships
• Content development- Social worker will develop content for individual - marriage - family - couples and group therapy to obtain SUD goals and objectives
• Content will be open for supervisory review in keeping with accepted professional standards
• Therapy- Social worker will conduct individual - family - and group therapy on an outpatient basis to deliver the needed services to the Veteran
• Discharge planning and aftercare- Social worker works with Veteran/family/couple in identifying community-based self-help groups and other resources to continue substance abuse recovery - and to strengthen marriage/family/couples' relationships
• S Record keeping- Maintains records which are in keeping with VA and JCAHO standards
• Service training- Social worker trains and educates other service providers on substance abuse disorder recognition and services offered by SUD
• Patient compliance- Social worker will order drug and alcohol screens to ensure patient compliance within the SUD program
• Work Schedule: 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM Monday to Friday EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive
• Contact View email address on careers.biausa.org - the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance
• Learn more Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases 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) 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) Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 60996-0

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.