Senior Social Worker (Outpatient Mental Health)

Summary The Senior Social Worker is assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. The Senior Social Worker may be assigned to work with special patient populations with complex health or mental health problems. Provides consultation and guidance to colleagues, and teaches or provides orientation to less experienced social workers, and develops innovations in practice interventions. Responsibilities Major Duties : Performs specialized treatment of complex mental illness, requiring outpatient mental health services. The incumbent incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved scope of practice. Performs psychosocial mental health assessments, facilitate measurement-based care, and accurately access for suicidality. Provides clinical services in-person and through tele-health technologies, when appropriate. Develops, implements, and maintains methods for accessing internal and external resources for veterans and his or her family members. Gathers information from internal and external colleagues and insuring accessibility to staff. Provides clinical leadership and offers consultation to colleagues on the psychosocial treatment of patients receiving outpatient mental health treatment. The Senior Social Worker renders their professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. Demonstrates the ability to teach and mentor staff and students in mental health treatment modalities. The Outpatient Senior Social Worker may act as a Field Work Instructor or Preceptor for students accepted within the Student Training Program. They're an active member or chairperson of a Social Work Service committee. Provides support to the Supervisory Social Worker, through consultation and mentoring to assure that data is accurately reported and entered for Decision Support System (DSS) purposes. Provides support to the data management processes by training and consulting with inpatient social workers on accurate data entry. Required to work 1-2 evening hours per week as determined by the service needs. Willingly accepts additional and special assignments that are necessary to meet program goals or customer needs. Work Schedule : Monday through Friday 8 : 00 am - 4 : 30 pm with adjustments to accommodate 1-2 evening appointments per week. Telework : May be available at supervisory discretion and clinic needs. Virtual : This is not a virtual position. 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 : Citizenship - You must be a citizen of the United States English Language Proficiency - You must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f) Education- You must possess 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. Note : A doctoral degree in Social Work may NOT be substituted for the master's degree in Social Work. License or Certification - You must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. Grandfather Provision. A Social Worker employed in VHA on the effective date of the qualification standard (9 / 10 / 2019) who did not meet all the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply : Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. Employees in an occupation that requires a licensure / certification / registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure / certification / registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and / or licensure / certification / registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation. In addition to meeting the basic requirements as stated above, you must have the following experience to qualify for this GS-12 Senior Social Worker position : Licensure Requirement : You 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 must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Experience Requirement : You must possess 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. Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to : assessing and documenting identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and / or intimate partner violence; use of clinical social work skills; maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality per policies, handbooks or directives; acting as an advocate with appropriate community service providers and agencies when it serves the best interest of the patient and family members / caregiver; independently assessing the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members, identifying the patient's strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and psychosocial acuity. Applicable experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. In addition to the experience above, you must demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities : 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. Preferred Experience : 2 years of adult psychotherapy experience. Trained and / or certified in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, (CBT), Motivation Interviewing (MI), Prolonged Exposure (PE), Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), or any other evidenced based psychotherapy techniques / protocols. Group psychotherapy experience, and Crisis intervention. Reference : For more information on this qualification standard, please visit Physical Requirements : Position requires walking throughout the clinic and / or Medical Center, standing for extended periods of time, and involves sitting at a computer and in counsel and consultation with Veterans and interdisciplinary teams. Position may require minimal travel into the community to meet with community agencies and partners who aid, help, and provide support to the Caregiver Support Program, its Veterans, and caregivers. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as : preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; and repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and / or fingers. 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 : 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 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.