Social Worker (Program Coordinator) - COMPACT Act

Summary

The COMPACT Act Social Worker Program Coordinator functions as a coordinator for the care of Veterans at risk who have eligibility through the COMPACT Act. They serve as an advisor to facility leadership, program managers, and staff concerning the COMPACT Act and strategies for individual Veterans, the facility, and the Veteran community.

Help

Duties

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

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

• Responsible for overseeing and enabling navigation between varying levels of care.
• Responsible for coordination between health care providers and care managers in direct care and community care.
• Responsible for comprehensive transition planning.
• Responsible for outreach to community providers and healthcare systems providing COMPACT care.
• Advocates for Veterans working closely with fiscal and business units to assure they do not receive bills for COMPACT-related care.
• Serves as a singular point of contact for Veterans, families, and caregivers during COMPACT episodes of care.
• Serves as the facility subject matter expert for the COMPACT Act.
• Coordinates with local Patient Advocate Tracking System (PATS-R) COMPACT clinical review teams.
• Collaborates with local facility revenue and finance departments.
• Coordinates with their local facility Office of Integrated Veteran Care (IVC) Coordinators.
• Works with Veterans at high risk for suicide.
  
  

Screening/Assessment -

• Develops an assessment of the Veteran independently and/or in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the Veteran, family members, and significant others.
• Makes a diagnosis using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
• Provides goal planning, evaluation, and intervention with serious and complicated, highly diverse cases involving substance abuse and psychiatric illness.
  
  

Treatment Planning/Goal Setting -

• Develops or contributes to the development of the mental health treatment plan and setting achievable treatment goals with the Veteran and/or family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team.
• Provides consultation and makes recommendations to the interdisciplinary team on the course of treatment.
  
  

Referral to Service Providers -

• Collaborates with other service providers in reassessing the Veteran's needs.
• Responsible for educating the Veteran and/or caregiver of the available services and assisting them with appropriate referrals based on the Veteran's preference or that of his surrogate decision-maker related to mental health issues.
  
  

Crisis Intervention -

• Assesses for suicidality and self-harm and provide appropriate intervention including but not limited to safety planning.
  
  

Coordination of Care -

• Reviews the progress notes from other providers to accurately determine the strengths, limitations, and needs of each Veteran being referred for mental health services.
  
  

Psychotherapy -

• Provides Veterans with psychotherapy to treat psychiatric diagnoses and mental health symptoms.
• Provides psychotherapy to individuals and families as well as group therapy.
• Performs as a highly developed professional, with the knowledge and experience that is required in working with the full range of mental health symptoms and diagnoses, including chronic and severe mental illness, mood disorders, anxiety disorders, personality disorders, substance use disorders, and dual diagnosis.
  
  

Case Management -

• Provides comprehensive case management services.
• These services include but are not limited to, assistance with housing, income and benefits, community programs and services, and VA programs (Vocational Rehabilitation, Mental Health Day treatment, substance abuse treatment, transitional lodging, travel, primary care, etc.).
  

Work Schedule: 8am - 4:30pm Monday through Friday

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized

Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases

When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).

Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)

Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.

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: Not Available

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Help

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. 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 dentification 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).
• 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

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

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.
• 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.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C.
• 7403(f).
  
  

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:

Social Worker (Program Coordinator), GS-12

• Experience and Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience.
• Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
• Knowledge of program coordination and administration which includes consultation, negotiation, and monitoring.
• Knowledge and ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program.
• Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program.
• Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area(s).
• Ability to provide training, orientation, and guidance within clinical practice.
  

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-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.



Physical Requirements: Light lifting, under 15 pounds; Use of fingers; Near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; Depth perception; Hearing (aid may be permitted); Emotional/Mental Stability;

Environmental Factors: Outside and Inside; Dust; Working closely with others; Working alone; Protracted or irregular hours of work;

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

Receiving Service Credit or 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.

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.

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.

Read more

• Help 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.
  
  

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.