To provide mental health services to the veteran population enrolled at the Lexington VA Medical Center. Services include provision of high-quality case management, clinical treatment, advocacy, and coordination of linkages to other appropriate VA or community service providers / agencies as needed by the Veteran. This posting will be used to fill multiple vacancies. 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: 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: 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/. 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 GS-12: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, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:(a) 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.(b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.(c) 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.(d) 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.(e) 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. References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II Appendix G39 dated 09/10/2019 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. ["VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU *** This occupational series is eligible for the Student Loan Repayment Program (SLRP). Qualifying SLRP participants can receive up to $40,000 per year in education debt payments with a combined total not to exceed $100,000. Participants must sign a service agreement and maintain an acceptable level of performance to remain eligible for this program.** SLRP will be available if there is funding for FY 24. The Suicide Prevention Coordinator (SPC) functions as a coordinator for care of veterans at suicide risk and an consultant to the MHSL, facility leadership, program managers, and staff concerning suicide prevention strategies for individual patients, for the facility and veteran community as a whole. Services include assessing veterans for high risk for suicide, diagnosing mental health and high-risk factors related to suicide and suicide prevention, and providing treatment options. Duties Include, but are not limited to: Responsible for tracking and reporting all suicide attempts and completions at their facility. Ensures that patients identified as being at high risk for suicide receive follow-up for any missed mental health appointments in accordance with policy and that this follow-up is documented in the electronic medical record. Responsible for the delivery of S.A.V.E. training, or other approved \"gatekeeper' training, to all nonclinical staff who have patient contact. Responsible for the delivery of other training programs at the site by request of the facility. Responsible for the delivery of the community version of S.A.V.E. training. Resource person for both the VA facility and community related to Veteran suicide and suicide prevention issues. Responsible for delivering community outreach activities every month. Participates in individual RCA's concerning Veterans who have attempted suicide or died by suicide. Serves on Medical Center or Healthcare System, VISN, and/or National VA committees or task forces as needed. Reviews all CSRE to ensure accuracy of assessment, information, and data collection. Reviews ALL Suicide Prevention High Risk Flag Placement E-Consults. Clinical Functions: The incumbent is a professional, independent social worker assigned to the Lexington VAMC Mental Health Service. The incumbent must use a high level of skill in assessing and treating the complicated psychosocial problems of Veterans. Responsibilities include the assessment of psychosocial problems often at a time when the Veteran is experiencing crisis to include evidenced based suicide risk and safety planning assessment, interventions as well as provide short term evidenced based therapeutic interventions with Veterans and/or their families. The incumbent must complete thorough assessments to determine the presenting problem, to determine in-home factors impacting the problem, and to determine obstacles to treatment and/or follow through with recommended treatments. The incumbent must have a high level of skill and expertise to establish and maintain effective therapeutic relationships with Veterans and/or their families. The incumbent is able to independently work with Veterans and their families who are experiencing a wide range of complicated medical, psychiatric, emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial problems. The incumbent must independently complete thorough psychosocial assessments to determine the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and/or their families. The incumbent must be able to utilize this assessment in facilitating the Veteran's maximum use of treatment for attainment of the highest level of independence that is possible and practicable. The incumbent must possess a working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures, including acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology. The incumbent must facilitate action for community placements through collaboration with Veterans and their families as well as interdisciplinary treatment team members to ensure that appropriate community placements are completed in a timely manner. Community placements can involve but are not limited to referrals to contract nursing homes, Community Living Centers, residential care homes, inpatient and outpatient hospice services. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Authorized Telework: Ad-Hoc- as determined by the agency policy. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #:30339F Senior Social Worker SPC GS-0185-12 Student Loan Repayment Plan: Will be available if there is funding for FY 24 Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Recruitment Incentive: Authorized PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]
The Veterans Health Administration is America’s largest integrated health care system, providing care at 1,298 health care facilities, including 171 medical centers and 1,113 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics), serving 9 million enrolled Veterans each year.
