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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Overview

• Accepting applications

• Open & closing dates

06/28/2024 to 07/08/2024

• Salary

$97,614 - $126,895 per year

• Pay scale & grade

GS 12

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Location

3 vacancies in the following location:

• Oklahoma City, OK 3 vacancies

• Remote job

No

• Telework eligible

Yes-as determined by the agency policy.

• Travel Required

Not required

• Relocation expenses reimbursed

No

• Appointment type

Permanent

• Work schedule

Full-time

• Service

Excepted

• Promotion potential

None

• Job family (Series)

0185 Social Work

• Supervisory status

No

• Security clearance

Not Required

• Drug test

No

• Position sensitivity and risk

Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk

• Trust determination process

Credentialing

Suitability/Fitness

• Announcement number

CBSU-12460522-24-KP

• Control number

797797600

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This job is open to

• Internal to an agency

Current federal employees of this agency.

Clarification from the agency

This job announcement is open to current, permanent VHA employees and Health Professional Trainees. If you are another federal employee or the public, please apply here: CBSU-12460524-24-KP

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Duties

The incumbent of this position serves full-time as a clinical Senior Social Worker in the Emergency Department (ED) for Mental Health Service.

The Duties include but are not limited to:

• Interview the Veteran and at times family members/significant others to understand the Veteran's situation, presenting problems and causes, and the impact of such problems on the Veteran's functioning.

• Assess Veterans that present in the ED and identify viable treatment options, assess high risk factors, acuity and need for services.

• Rapidly assess Veterans presenting with acute psychiatric emergencies and develop crisis management plans in conjunction with the ED physician and treatment team for admission to inpatient mental health programs and Tele Emergency Care Suicide assessments The assessment will include special attention to self-care deficits; abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation, including domestic and/or intimate partner violence, and frail elderly indicators, elements of geriatric syndromes, reporting for cases of suspected or reported abuse, neglect, or financial exploitation which present or are identified in the ED.

• Performs a thorough assessment of Veterans presenting to the ED with a psychiatric emergency to form a treatment plan that focuses on urgent and emergent needs and treatment goals.

• Participates in the development of the treatment and/or admission plan with special emphasis on psychosocial and psychological elements and interventions.

• Demonstrates an understanding of the range of treatment and needs of Veterans and must have an understanding and respect for the diversification of the Veteran population, being sensitive to human growth and development, age-appropriate needs, risk factors, concerns of the Veteran and be able to provide current and advanced techniques to the treatment of the Veteran population.

• Provides intensive and comprehensive psychosocial case management and care coordination for episodes of emergency care.

• Serves as the key link for education and psychological and psychosocial support for Veterans.

• Refers for appropriate care via VA consults and collaborates with other providers in on-going reassessment of the Veterans' health care needs.

• Coordinates appropriate after-care and need for follow up services following a Veteran's ED treatment.

• Coordinates care with interdisciplinary team members, the Veteran, and caregivers to proactively address discharge.

• Ensures and links Veterans and caregivers to supportive and ancillary services which include, but are not limited to, temporary lodging, travel, and specialty mode transportation.

Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf

Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf

Work Schedule: A normal work week consists of three possible shifts, Morning (7:00am-3:30pm), Mid-Day (10:00am-6:30pm), and Evening (2:30pm-11:00pm) and may include weekends and/or holidays and will also participate in an On Call Rotation.

Compressed/Flexible: Compressed tours are available based upon facility needs

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized

EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact David.Billingsley@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more

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: Ad-hoc

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Functional Statement #: 54023A

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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Requirements

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.

• You may be required to serve a probationary period.

• Subject to background/security investigation.

• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.

• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

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 http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.

Licensure. 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.

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 Determination:

GS-12 Senior Social Worker Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as Senior Social Workers must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Education and Experience. 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.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate 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.

This position is being hired above the full performance level at GS-12.

References: VA Handbook 5005/120 September 10, 2019

Physical Requirements: The work of the position is primarily sedentary. It may require some lifting (10-20 lbs) occasionally. Reaching above shoulder; Frequent keyboarding (4-7 hours per day); Sitting (4-7 hours per day); Walking (up to 6 hours per day); Standing (up to 8 hours per day); Infrequent climbing/descending of stairs; Some bending or climbing stairs, carrying of light items such as papers, books, laptop, small objects; Ability for rapid

mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; Correctable near sighted and far-sighted vision; hearing aids permitted; Ability to complete a Basic Life Support (BLS) course is a position requirement

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

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.

Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.

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.

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• Benefits

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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 window

Learn more about federal benefits.

Review our benefits

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.

How You Will Be Evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

1.Current permanent VA employees of the facility.

2.All other VA employees.