Senior Social Worker-Post Traumatic Stress Disorder-Residential Rehabilitation Treatment Facilities

This Senior Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW)provides expert clinical services to Veterans served by the Trauma Recovery Program (TRP) Team. Duties will include screening high risk patients, expert evaluations for diagnosis and treatment planning, and providing a full range of psychological interventions, including brief and motivational counseling, evidence-based individual and group psychotherapy, family/relationship counseling, consultation, and psychoeducation.

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.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English.
• 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: The experience and Knowledge, Skill, Abilities (KSAs) required below must be evident in your resume.
Senior Social Worker GS-0185-12:

• 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: 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.

Preferred Experience:

• Experience working with patients that have mental health conditions
• Experience working as part of a team
• Ideal candidates will possess a background in conducting psychotherapy for PTSD and experience with Evidence Based Psychotherapy (EBP) protocols.

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: Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation, see Duties section for essential job duties of the position. May require standing, lifting, carrying, sitting, stooping, bending, puling, and pushing. May be required to wear personal protective equipment and undergo annual TB screening or testing as conditions of employment.

Work Environment: Work is performed in an office/clinic setting with minimal risks that requires normal safety precautions; the area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. However, the work environment requires someone with the ability to handle several tasks at once in sometimes stressful situations.

Responsibilities:

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The duties of the Senior Social Worker-PTSD-RRTF include, but are not limited to:

Clinical Responsibilities:

• Provide a wide range of assessment services, including screening for PTSD and highly prevalent comorbid conditions, for the VAMC's Veteran population.
• Provide expert assessment and diagnostic services for patients with problems related to post traumatic stress disorder.
• Provide motivational enhancement activities to prepare Veterans to participate in clinically appropriate care.
• Provide treatment/rehabilitation services for Veterans with a wide range of problems, including individual and group therapy, family/relationship counseling, and psychoeducation.
• Provide expert evidence-based treatment/rehabilitation services for problems related to post traumatic stress disorder and comorbid conditions.
• Provide expert consultation to providers within and outside of mental health to assist in diagnosis and treatment of their patients.
• Provide psychoeducational and treatment services to the families of Veterans with problems related to post traumatic stress disorder, when such care is directly related to the overall treatment plan for the Veteran and will allow better care for the Veteran.
• Provide screening for cognitive deficits to determine if a referral for an expert neuropsychological evaluation is needed.
• Promote communication/interactions between medical team members, patients, and their families to facilitate the medical treatment process.
• Provide training for and coordinate work of staff, as assigned.
• Responsible for timely completion of all clinical charting and documentation required by the Medical Center as appropriate.

• Complete chart reviews, scheduling, reports or other administrative tasks related to maintaining CARF accreditation and day-to-day operations of the residential PTSD program, as assigned.
• Complete reports and proposals for program improvement as assigned.
• Contribute to training of team members in evidence-based assessment and treatment.
• Lead consultation groups for providers on topics meaningful to TRP staff development.
• Oversee the establishment and interpretation of data from program monitors and outcome measurements within programs assigned using data-driven quality assurance processes.
• Represent area(s) of responsibility during decision-making committee meetings at the Medical Center as appointed.
• Represent the Medical Center at professional/program community group/events and committees.
• Plan and oversee performance improvement projects designed to provide information regarding program planning and relevant treatment approaches.
• Present outcome data and research results at regional and/or national scientific VA or other professional organization meetings.
• Collaborate with local, state and national professional organizations whose work contributes to improvement of population health, including health of Veterans.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday: 7:30am - 4:00pm, subject to change based on the needs of the facility.
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.
Functional Statement #: 586-01305-F
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized.

Salary : $417