Incumbent is a professional social worker assigned to the VA Northern Indiana Health Care System Mental Health Clinic. The incumbent will act as a Care Coordinator as part of a Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) team. The incumbent must use a high level of skill in assessing and treating the complicated psychosocial problems of Veterans referred to the BHIP team. 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: 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 the CSWE website to verify if that social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a master 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 SW Licensure Summary by State. 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Social Worker, GS-9 Experience, Education, and Licensure: None beyond the basic requirements. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Ability to work with Veterans and family members from various socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diversified backgrounds utilizing counseling skills. Ability to assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members, and to formulate and implement a treatment plan, identifying the Veterans problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and assistance needed. Ability to implement treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups to achieve treatment goals. This requires judgment and skill in utilizing supportive, problem solving, or crisis intervention techniques. Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communicate with clients, staff, and representatives of community agencies. Fundamental knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic, and traumatic illnesses/injuries; common medications and their effects/side effects; and medical terminology. Social Worker, GS-11 Experience and Licensure: Appointment to the GS-11 grade level requires completion of a minimum of one year of post-MSW experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the field of health care or other social work-related settings, (VA or non-VA experience) and licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level. OR Education: In addition to meeting basic requirements, a doctoral degree in social work from a school of social work may be substituted for the required one year of professional social work experience in a clinical setting. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: Knowledge of community resources, how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services, and ability to coordinate services. Skill in independently conducting psychosocial assessments and treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational and other diversified backgrounds. Knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures (i.e. acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology) to formulate a treatment plan. Skill in independently implementing different treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, 8 medical, and social problems to achieve treatment goals. Ability to provide consultation services to new social workers, social work graduate students, and other staff about the psychosocial needs of patients and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and compliance with treatment. Preferred Experience: Outreach case management experience as a Social Worker. 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-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-9 to GS-11. Physical Requirements: The work requires regular driving and travel throughout the medical center for the purpose of Veteran care. The incumbent must possess a valid drivers license in order to utilize a government vehicle. ["Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf Grant County Visitors Bureau | Classic Cool, Indiana (showmegrantcounty.com) The role of the BHIP-CCM Social Work Care manager at VA Northern is in its infancy stage. Borrow from best practices from other facilities, the roles and responsibilities involved at the launch of the pilot BHIP Team will include the following: Conduct Psychosocial intakes Diagnosing DSM-5 disorders Complete Provider Portions of Clinical Reminders Serve as Point of Contact to veterans in the Home Team Connect veterans services Enter Treatment Plans Case Management Provide Supportive Therapy Clinical Duties 90% Providing a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice throughout the continuum of care which include psychosocial assessment, individual, family and group counseling, discharge planning, case management, coping with grief and loss, and other services as appropriate within the framework of a recovery-oriented, multi-disciplinary treatment team. Providing individual and group consultation/psycho-education and skill building training to veterans and families on community resources, advance directives and VA benefits. Completing brief assessments to recommend appropriate treatment planning and service recommendations. Acting as a consultant to other team/staff members. Providing consultation/education to medical residents on social work practice and VA policy and procedure. Acting as liaison between VA and community resources, to include marketing and public relation duties as needed. Providing wellness/prevention education and facilitate Patient/family support groups as appropriate. Conducting Role Recovery oriented groups/education on the Psychiatric inpatient units. Supervising, as appropriate, the practice of social work students, for a less experienced social worker. Administrative Duties 10% Participating in committee assignments, as deemed necessary by the service chief. Maintaining data and statistical compilations to comply with JCAHO, VA and medical center policy and procedures. Documenting social work interventions and activities in patient's clinical record utilizing CPRS and ensure appropriate hand off when transferring of patient care. Participating in a rotation of on-call social workers, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on weekends. Addressing Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of their work area. Grade distinctions: At the GS-11 level, Employees at this level serve as full performance level and are licensed or certified to independently practice social work. At the GS-09 level, Employees at this grade level are considered to be entry level position. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. Some evening clinics may be required. Compressed/Flexible: Available 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: Available per agency policy. May be authorized by supervisor. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 91978-A; 91979-A. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized"]
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.
