Senior Social Worker

Summary

The Senior Social Worker provides crisis-focused psychosocial and mental health assessments in the Emergency Department, ensuring warm handoffs to appropriate levels of care. Duties include multidisciplinary treatment planning, individual and family counseling, crisis intervention, and evidence-based group treatment. The position also supports Acute Psychiatry coverage and reports onsite to the Malcom Randall VA Medical Center.

Duties

• VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU The clinical duties of this position include providing discharge planning, crisis intervention, and short-term evidence-based, solution-focused interventions to Veterans and their family members, significant others, and caregivers within the Emergency Department. Additionally, the position provides coverage and delivers evidence-based group treatment interventions on the Acute Psychiatry Unit. Major duties include, but are not limited to: Independently conduct psychosocial/mental health assessments of Veterans in collaboration with the interdisciplinary team, the Veteran, family members, caregivers, and/or significant others. The goal of the assessment is to identify needs and formulate a treatment/discharge plan to meet those needs. Develop discharge plans through collaboration with the Veteran, family members/caregiver, and collaboration with the interdisciplinary team. Establish plans, goals and evaluates outcomes of interventions for a wide variety of individuals from various socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diversified backgrounds. Complete crisis assessments, develop and execute crisis management plans in a timely, effective and efficient manner, to include the VA Suicide Risk ID processes and reporting of abuse, neglect and/or exploitation to appropriate State agency. Educate the Veteran, their family members, significant others and/or caregiver of all the options available to them to live in the least restrictive environment of care. Provide individual and group evidence-based therapies and treatment appropriate to level of licensure to Veterans and their families/caregivers. Therapeutic interventions are reviewed regularly. As appropriate, act as a consultant to other VA interdisciplinary team members and medical residents regarding psychosocial and Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) concerns on social work practice, VA policy, and procedures. Provide education regarding VA/community programs and resources. Provide referrals for Veterans as needed. Document all Veterans, family contacts and encounters in the electronic medical record using appropriate formats and templates within the designated timeframe according to policy. Establish and maintain positive, professional working relationships with employees, volunteers, consumers, internal and external stakeholders, and community partnerships. Work Schedule: 1:30pm - 12am, Saturday through Tuesday Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 50675F Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

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. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Education-Please submit transcript. 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 4 accreditation standards for a masters of social work. Licensure-Documentation Required. 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 http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/ Grandfathering Provision. All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date (9/10/2019) of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. 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-Documentation Required. 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. 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. Other assignments may be found in the qualification standards of this occupational series. Preferred Experience: Preferred qualifications include an advanced practice license and at least 3 years of post- licensure experience providing medical or mental health case management, discharge planning, suicide-risk interventions, crisis services and chronic behavioral health care. Candidates should have demonstrated experience working with high-risk individuals; performing suicide-risk assessments and safety planning; applying de-escalation techniques; and managing crisis situations. Knowledge of voluntary and involuntary admission procedures, experience collaborating with interdisciplinary teams, and a proven ability to build effective, compassionate relationships with veterans are also required. Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Ability to manage time and complete work within specified time frames. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Work requires extreme patience and controlling of emotions. Day-to-day work involves sitting, walking, standing, and carrying light objects. Work is typically performed in a clinical setting that exposes the Social Worker to communicable diseases common to the hospital setting. Able to meet the physical demands of the position, reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. They must have good manual dexterity. Must be able to express or exchange ideas by means of spoken and written words. Must be able to view and read information on computer screens. The job entails walking, standing, bending, pushing, traveling among several different stories/floors, sitting, working on a computer, carrying objects up to 15 pounds.

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/.

Requirements

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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). 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. 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.

Grade: GS 12. . Apply by 2026-11-16 on USAJOBS.