Senior Social Worker - Home Based Primary Care

Summary

This senior social worker is assigned to HBPC with responsibility to provide direct services for adult and geriatric veterans and their families. Due to the frontier nature of the service area and level of staffing the HBPC Senior Social Worker works in the community - traveling some distance alone to meet with Veterans enrolled in HBPC program.

Qualifications

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 3 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) Grade Determinations: 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: Minimum of 2 years Advanced Practice Licensure - or Independent Licensure - so must have had their CSW for at least 2 years
• Experience with geriatric populations preferred but not required
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit
• Physical Requirements: This position provides services to patients and their families
• Incumbents must be physically and mentally able to efficiently perform the essential functions of the position without hazard to themselves or others
• Normal work of the position requires visual acuity (with the ability to read typewritten characters without strain - corrective lenses permitted) - keen hearing - clear distinctive speech - and manual dexterity
• This position may require reaching above shoulder-level height and requires potentially moderate levels of lifting and carrying (15 - 44 pounds)
• This position requires long periods of sitting - standing - and walking
• The incumbent must be a mature - flexible - sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations - able to shift priorities based on patient needs.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: - Receives and completes consults from interdisciplinary teams and other social workers on complex - difficult cases - using advanced practice skills and expertise
• Incumbent also provides consultation to referral sources and is responsible for developing and maintaining professional standards of practice and educating others regarding such
• - Completes psychosocial assessments
• interviews veteran and family members and/or significant others to establish facts about the veteran's unique situation
• identifies presenting problems and their causes - and the impact of such problems on the veteran's functioning and health as a part of a comprehensive psychosocial assessment
• assesses high risk factors - acuity and need for services
• - Develops an assessment of the veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment teams - the veteran - family members and significant others - whenever possible
• - Develops psychosocial treatment plans in collaboration with the HBPC interdisciplinary team - including goals for psychosocial clinical treatment
• - Senior Social Worker provides independent consultation and makes recommendations to the interdisciplinary team regarding the course of treatment
• - Provides the patient - caregivers - and/or family members with ongoing supportive counseling
• - Participate in discharge planning with other disciplines and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely and appropriate
• - Provide individual - family and group counseling as appropriate
• - Provide consultation/education to veterans and families on community resources - advance directives and VA benefits
• - Act as a consultant to other team/staff members
• - Provide consultation/education to medical residents on social work practice and VA policy and procedure
• - Act as liaison between VA and community resources - to include marketing and public relation duties as needed
• - Provide case management to veterans and families - as needed - throughout the continuum of care
• - Provide a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice which includes case work - individual - family and group counseling - discharge planning - case management and other services as appropriate
• - Address Advance Directives and Goals of Care Conversations in accordance with the standards of their work area
• - Provide wellness/prevention education and facilitate Patient/family support groups as appropriate
• - As appropriate - supervise the practice of social work students - or a less experienced social worker
• - Coordinate treatment and communicate with the care lines to facilitate continuity of care for veterans
• - Participate in committee assignments - as deemed necessary by the service manager
• - Maintain data and statistical compilations to comply with JCAHO - VA and medical center policy and procedures
• - Document social work interventions and activities in patients clinical record utilizing CPRS and ensure appropriate hand off when transferring of patient care
• - Completes Suicide Risk assessments and assists Veterans with developing Suicide Safety Plans - consults with and keeps the Suicide prevention Office informed as appropriate for Veterans considered at risk for Suicide
• - Advocate for the VA and identifies the need for services in specific geographical areas
• - Experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans to maintain the veteran in a medical foster home
• - Ensures the interdisciplinary team is kept informed of any concerns with the patient and/or caregiver
• Work Schedule: M-F - 7:30am-4:00pm Compressed/Flexible: Yes Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized 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) 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 Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Functional Statement #: 59360A 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.