Senior Social Worker

Summary The Community Nursing Home Program Senior Social worker is part of an engaged interdisciplinary team that provides oversight of Veterans residing in contracted community nursing homes. Assessments are completed during required routine visits with Veterans - providing an opportunity to determine and correct unmet clinical needs and ensure Veteran and family satisfaction with the care provided. The social worker also participates in quality oversight - approvals of contracts for eligible veterans. 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. United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy 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 Differentiating Independent Practice from Advanced Practice Level: Experience must be evaluated to differentiate between independent practice and advanced practice levels A social worker practicing at the independent level has a generalized knowledge of practice - (which is required for all social workers at the full performance level and above.) - whereas the social worker practicing at the advanced level has specialized knowledge of practice typically related to a particular diagnosis or patient population The advanced practice social worker can be further differentiated from the independent practice social worker by their 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 or certification A social worker with advanced practice skills and personal qualifications that meet the standard for the senior social worker will have passed an advanced generalist or clinical Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) examination and be assigned to a position that requires use of the advanced practice skills in order to be considered for the senior social worker grade Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker - GS-12 Experience/Education: The candidate must have at least two (2) years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which - one (1) 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 4 Assignments: For all assignments above the full performance level - the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope - complexity (difficulty) - and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center - or a national VHA referral center - such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center - or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans - ensures equity of access - service - and benefits to this population - ensures the care provided is of the highest quality The senior social worker provides leadership - direction - orientation - coaching - in-service training - staff development - and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff They serve on committees - work groups - and task forces at the facility - VISN and national level - or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor - Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation Preferred Experience: One (1) year Hospice Care One (1) year Program Coordination One (1) year Geriatric/Clinically Complex Care Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit Duties VA Careers - Licensed Clinical Social Worker: Major duties include - but are not limited to the following: Performs specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness Incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of Veteran patients - including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice Performs case finding functions and outreach - identifying and screening patients for psychosocial needs Develops treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team Possess the knowledge and ability to independently implement treatment modalities - provide counseling or psychotherapy for individuals - families and groups Coordinates community-based services - including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs - other government programs and community agency programs Provides crisis intervention services - seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint - coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in their area of practice - utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services Offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in their area of expertise - rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills Demonstrates the ability to teach and mentor staff and students in their special area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications Performs other related duties as assigned Work Schedule: Monday through Friday - Four different shifts which includes 7:00am to 5:30pm Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 000000 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized. #J-18808-Ljbffr