This Senior Social Worker is part of the Mental Health Service, located at the White River Junction VA Healthcare Center. This position acts in the role of senior social worker to an interdisciplinary team of professionals and trainees working with Veterans. Provides supervision and consultation as appropriate, provides educational opportunities, provides direct patient care via individual and groups, and provides administrative duties and reports, as assigned by leadership. 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 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/. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). GRADE DETERMINATIONS. In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. 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. Assignments: For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. References: VA Handbook 5005/120 Part II Appendix G39, Dated September 10, 2019.The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position involve primarily walking, sitting, talking, driving, use of the telephone, etc. Light lifting, under 15 pounds, Light carrying, under 15 pounds, Hearing (aid permitted). Valid driver's license is required. ["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. VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU The Senior Social Worker is the Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Specialist. This position provides coordination with VISN for referrals to Programs in VISN 1. Position will oversee clinical case management in Domiciliary to ensure compliance with clinical expectations. The (SUD) Specialist will provide clinical intervention to Veterans within overall Program. Supports continuity of care between Programs as Veterans transition to and from Domiciliary including Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Programs (RRTPs), Health Care for Homeless Veterans Programs, and Grant Per Diem Programs and HUD-VASH. The Senior Social Worker provides on-going substance use case management and early treatment interventions to promote sustained stability and abstinence in an RRTP Program. The Senior Social Worker must be able to develop appropriate professional relationships and assist and engage in meaningful treatment. The Senior Social Worker will need to develop liaison relationships with community partners and partners within VHA. Functions: Provides direct SUD services for RRTP Services in the Medical Center. Provides Outreach services. Provides training for other members of the multidisciplinary treatment team in areas related to SUD assessment, anger management, and life skills and SUD with co-occurring disorders. Independently conducts intake and needs assessment of Veterans and identifies symptoms leading to clinical diagnoses of SUD. Provides all necessary assessment functions, e.g. interviewing Develops comprehensive treatment plans with the Veteran that address the factors that contributed to addictions, including SUD and other co-occurring factors within a recovery model framework. Works with the Veteran to realize the Veteran's treatment goals and reassesses and revises goals as indicated by the Veteran's engagement in treatment. Oversees and conducts individual and group case management and SUD treatment, to include early interventions and supportive follow-up to ensure stability. Provides SUD support to the RRTP team as a functional member of this team, to include consultation, interventions Will serve as a member of a multidisciplinary recovery program treatment team Will develop partnerships with community agencies, especially those serving SUD Veterans, with regular contact and communication as needed. Will provide liaison services with other programs referring Veterans to ensure continuity of care and promote successful transition of Veterans from one program to another. Will participate in policy making, goal setting, and treatment service planning discussions with other members of RRTP. Will provide appropriate clinical documentation for all contacts with or about Veterans. Will be responsible for the collection of statistical data and for reviewing the data to improve performance and delivery of SUD services to RRTP Veterans. Provides recovery-oriented treatment with the goal of establishing the Veteran independently in the community at the Veteran's highest level of functioning and quality of life Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 6071 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Notification: -This position is in the Excepted Service. -Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees. -This position is a AFGE Bargaining Unit position. -This position is covered by locality-based comparability pay. -Selectee may be required to work at any VA White River Junction Healthcare System campus, as needed. -The incumbent may be required to travel to other VA campuses and CBOC's.-Narrative responses to the knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) may be required from the selectee in order to proceed with the appointment. -Current and former Federal employees must 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."]

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