Senior Social Worker

Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP) - a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval - award amount (up to $200 -000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

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
• Verification of the degree can be made by going to 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
• 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: Senior Social Worker - GS-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: Independently licensed Social Worker - strong program development skills
• understanding of systems
• excellent psychosocial assessment skills
• experience facilitating support and psychoeducational groups
• strong communication skillset
• excellent interdisciplinary collaboration skills
• strong customer service skills
• excellent time management skills
• strong computer and technology proficiency
• experience working with Veterans and caregivers (or military families)
• mental health - geriatric care - medical case management and care coordination skills
• psychosocial education - connection and referral skills
• knowledge of VA and community resources across the adult-life spectrum
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit
• Physical Requirements: Must be able to meet the physical requirements outlined in VA Directive and Handbook 5019.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.

Duties

• This Senior Social Worker position is in Social Work services at the VA Boston Healthcare Systems - located at the Jamaica Plain - MA location
• This position is a full-time at 40 hours per week
• The Senior Social Worker is administratively responsible for the clinical programming and daily operations of the Caregiver Support Program of Comprehensive Assistance to Family Caregivers (PCAFC) and may serve as a back-up to the facility CSP (Caregiver Support Program) Program Manager
• Assist with the development of policies and procedures for the program operation and prepares reports and statistics for facility - VISN and national use
• Other duties included but not limited to: Develops and implements the PCAFC specific to their area of assignment and ensures compliance and collaboration with local facility and the VA Central Office Caregiver Support Program initiatives in concert with the facility CSP Program Manager
• Participates in direct caregiver and Veteran communication to identify and assess caregiver stress/burden and the development and application of directed clinical treatment interventions The Coordinator administers information and analytical systems to evaluate and enhance the quality of service provided to caregivers - families and Veterans
• Manages and controls the use of data related to these programs regarding day to day functioning and program evaluation
• Plans - organizes and directs administrative - operational - caregiver - and Veteran activities for the program in concert with CSP Program Manager
• Administers information and analytical systems to evaluate and enhance the quality of service provided to CSP program participants
• Implements and evaluates clinical guidelines and protocols to establish appropriate utilization of services and program's effectiveness
• Advises and collaborates with interdisciplinary teams throughout the medical center on caregiver issues
• Coordinates and participates in outreach events
• Completes in home/community based visits to PCAFC participants
• Meets the needs of customers while supporting the VA missions
• Work Schedule: Monday- Friday 8:00 a.m
• to 4:30 p.m
• Compressed/Flexible: Available
• Functional Statement #: F05988 Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized
• Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized
• EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive
• Contact Karen Chapman at [email protected] - the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance
• Learn more 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: Ad-Hoc
• Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized
• Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional Notifications: This position is in the Excepted Service
• Due to a critical staffing shortage - 38 U.S.C. § 7412 waives the requirement to apply Veterans' preference for this job announcement
• Current and former Federal employees may submit copies of their most recent SF-50 - (Notice of Personnel Action)
• The SF-50 must identify the position title - series - grade - step - tenure and type of service (Competitive or Excepted)
• In some cases - more than one SF-50 may be required to show a higher grade previously held
• This position is a AFGE Bargaining Unit position
• This position is covered by a special rate
• The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA campuses and CBOC's.

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The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,321 health care facilities, including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,138 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics) to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of our medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision care. Some medical centers also offer advanced services such as organ transplants and plastic surgery.

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