---

Veterans Health Administration is Hiring a Senior Social Worker (Oncology Medicine Program) Near Las Vegas, NV

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.
• 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: Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j, this part.

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 Senior Social Worker

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: 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.

References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard, GS-0185, Veterans Health Administration, dated September 10, 2019.

The full performance level of this vacancy is 12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is a GS-12

.Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 Employee Occupational Health Service.

Responsibilities:

Work Schedule: Tour of duty to be established upon selection
Telework: Authorized per Agency policy
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

The Mental Health Integration (MHI) Social Worker works collaboratively within this specialty medical clinic to promote prevention, brief assessment, early identification, and treatment of most mild to moderate mental health and health behavior concerns. Visits are generally brief (e.g., 30 minutes), limited in number, and structured so that the Veteran and special medical team views meeting with the MHI Social Worker as part of the specialty medical service. The MHI Social Worker is fully integrated into the specialty medical clinic team, engaging in a variety of team-based activities, including huddles, meetings, case review, consultation, and education.

Duties for the position may include but are not limited to:

• Provides functional assessment, triage, intervention, education, and consultative services regarding a wide range of possible concerns.
• Promotes collaboration in support of the Veteran's Mission/Aspiration/Purpose and awareness of the mental and behavioral aspects of health and well-being.
• Utilizes a Population-Based Care and Public Health approach in maximizing the reach of services to as many Veterans as possible.
• Accepts referrals from Specialty Medical Providers and allied specialty team members and supports guideline-concordant treatment.
• Collaborates with Specialty Medical Team members and others as appropriate (e.g., PCMHI, General Mental Health, Primary Care) to support high quality, effective, and coordinated service delivery at the patient and programmatic levels.
• Conducts initial functional assessments that are focused on the main reason(s) for referral and are less extensive than traditional mental health intake evaluations (e.g., 30 minutes vs. 60 or 90 minutes for traditional evaluation).
• Supports Stepped-Care principles to facilitate 'on-time, on target' services to Veterans, matching the intensity of services with the level of clinical need.
• Provides a full range of psychological interventions consistent with training and expertise, with special emphasis on brief and evidenced-based interventions found to be effective in Specialty Medical Settings.
• Provides time-limited, brief, evidence-based, individual or group interventions (e.g., approximately 1-6 sessions) for a broad range of mental health and health behavior concerns within the Specialty Medical Setting, making exceptions as needed depending on Veteran need and disease-course.
• Supports Specialty Medical Provider decision-making, building on Specialty Medical interventions and improving Specialty Medical provider - patient working relationships.
• Engages in Specialty Medical Team huddles and meetings to cultivate collaborative team functioning and serves as a subject matter expert for behavioral health considerations.
• Provides education to Special Medical Team on mental health and health behavior issues, as well as tips to promote effective patient communication, motivational enhancement, and behavior change.
• Assist Specialty Medical Team in streamlining procedures for standard screenings and referrals (e.g., same day warm handoffs).
• May supervise Social Work trainees in accordance with training program policies and accrediting agency requirements.
• May provide staff and student didactic training and consultation as requested in content areas of scholarly and/or clinical expertise.
• May supervise or train allied health providers in accord with facility and regulatory standards regarding such training.
• Participates fully in peer review, assessing the quality of professional social work practice standards provided in the organization.
• Participates in education/CME lectures, research, specialty care programs, and/or clinics as assigned by the Associate Chief of Staff, Behavioral Health or the Specialty Program Manager.
• Participates actively in Performance Improvement (PI) activities, including taking lead on Oncology MHI related SAIL measures.
• Participates in local, VISN, and national committees/community networking activities as requested by Associate Chief of Staff, Behavioral Health, or the Specialty Program Manager.
• Performs other duties as assigned.

This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and may be posted up to September 30, 2024. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be January 16, 2024. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur on an as-needed basis until positions are filled.

Job Summary