Senior Social Worker

Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

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Duties

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VA Careers - Social Work :

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The Social Worker in this position functions as the Medical Center's Grant and Per Diem Liaison/Case Manager for VA's Health Care for Homeless Veterans Programs, Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem (GPD) Program. The social worker is responsible for monitoring and coordination of services provided by community-based programs funded under VA's Homeless Providers Grant and Per Diem Program.

The GPD Program, an essential and critical part of VHA, is vital for providing safe transitional housing and supportive services for homeless Veterans. VA medical centers must ensure that Veterans in community-based funded programs are receiving quality services. The liaison/case manager is responsible for the oversight of these services as well as the case management of the Veterans who receive them.

Specific duties of this position include but are not limited to:

• Provides case management at GPD funded sites as described in the GPD program rules, regulations, and directives. The social worker utilizes various treatment modalities of individual and group work, casework, community organization, and community outreach activities to alleviate or remove problems that interfere with the Veteran participants' ability to achieve independence. The social worker coordinates care including serving as an advocate on behalf of the Veterans to ensure comprehensive service delivery, and linking and referring Veterans to the VA Medical Center, VA Regional Offices and/or community agencies
• The social worker monitors the clinical care and assesses the compliance of the programs receiving per diem as described in the grant recipient's original grant application. When necessary, the social worker intervenes to facilitate compliance or corrective actions and, when appropriate, develops, facilitates and monitors plans of correction.
• The social worker provides services and oversight of the GPD funded programs as defined in the GPD rules, regulations, and directives including verification of Veteran status and eligibility for participation in the GPD Program, maintaining admission and discharge dates of participants for billing purposes, reviewing and approving/disapproving readmissions to and extensions of care, and collecting and submitting participant information as outlined by NEPEC evaluations procedures.
• The social worker coordinates and participates in program site inspections in accordance with the GPD Program rules, regulations, and directives as guidance and forwards completed inspection packages to the appropriate offices. When necessary, the social worker notes inspection deficiencies and establishes methods to monitor corrective actions. The social worker recommends a response to the Medical Center Director as a result of inaction or insufficient actions related to the correction of deficiencies in accordance with the GPD Handbook.
• The social worker engages in coordination with community agencies, organizations, and groups to learn of services or resources available for homeless Veterans as well as provides current information on services and benefits available in the VA for Homeless Grant and Per Diem Program participants
• The social worker actively participates in the GPD conference calls and attends training offered by the GPD National Program Office.
• The social worker performs accountability functions: 1) document all contacts with patients/families in the medical charts; 2) completes statistical, administrative, staffing studies and all other reports in accordance with VA Medical Center and respective professional discipline service policies.
• The social worker works with VA Medical Center multi-disciplinary teams and community agencies to strive for developing more effective and efficient ways of delivering healthcare services to Homeless Grant and Per Diem Program Veterans.
• The social worker participates in providing administrative coverage of overall programs at work site if necessary/needed for the operations of the clinical programs
• The social worker participates in the Social Work 24-hour emergency on call coverage program as needed; providing telephone consultation or onsite social work intervention if the clinician evaluates that to be required.

Work Schedule : Monday to Friday 8:00am to 4:30pm

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact View email address on click.appcast.io, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

Telework : Yes, as determined by the agency policy.

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement # : 689-F1076

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

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Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements ( Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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.
• English Language Proficiency. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English.
• 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. Note: 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 Master of Social Work.
• Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work 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.

Grade Determinations : In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade.

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

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).

Preferred Experience: Experience working with individuals with serious mental illness and substance use disorders. Experience working in community base setting.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS12.

Physical Requirements: The work is generally sedentary. The work requires intermittent standing and walking, with periods of bending and sitting. The work requires light lifting and carrying of light items (under 15 lbs.) such as charts, notes, reports and binders. Simple grasping and fine manipulation are required when using a keyboard to access a computer. The work requires the incumbent to drive a government vehicle for conducting visits in the community.

Work is typically performed in both a clinical and community-based setting which may expose the incumbent to the communicable diseases common to the Veteran population. The work environment is adequately lighted and heated. The incumbent may be required to work an irregular tour and/or weekends as the need arises performs related duties as assigned.

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit:

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.