Senior Social Worker

Summary

Senior Social Worker - Community Engagement and Reintegration Service (CERS) - GS-0185-12 - Veterans Health Administration (VHA) - Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System - Los Angeles - CA

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 seriesin VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work atthe 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)
• Grade Determinations:Senior Social Worker - GS-12 (1)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
• (2)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
• (3)Demonstrated Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities
• In addition to the experience above - candidates 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
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12 Physical Requirements: Light lifting (under 15 pounds)
• light carrying (under 15 pounds)
• reaching above shoulder
• use of fingers
• both hands required
• walking
• standing
• hearing (aid permitted)
• Ability to operate vehicles with frequent travel into the community is required.

Duties

• The Social Worker in this position functions as a GS-12 Social Worker in Community Engagement and Reintegration Services (CERS) and serves as a member of the Veterans Mental Evaluation Team (VMET)
• The incumbent works with a patient population experiencing highly complex medical and mental health challenges
• The Social Worker serves as an outreach specialist and case manager for the VMET program
• Primary responsibilities include outreach to homeless Veterans - triage - crisis intervention and assessment - linkage to resources - coordination of care - case management - community networking - and advocacy
• Building community relationships and identifying available resources is an integral component of this role
• The VMET program is based at the Medical Center within the VA Police Department (VAPD) - and all services are delivered through a police/social worker dyad
• Veterans receive VMET services both within and outside the hospital environment
• however - VMET social workers-accompanied by their police partners-primarily provide services to Veterans in the community
• VA Careers - Social Work: Work Schedule: Full-time - Monday-Friday - 8:00 am- 4:30 pm Compressed/Flexible: Not available Telework: Ad hoc - after 90 days Functional Statement #: 00000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): 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.