The Supervisory Social Worker works in Social Work Service (SWS) at the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System (NF/SGVHS), primarily stationed at Lake City. This position manages the overall social work programs and staff within the Community Living Center (CLC), Hospice/Palliative Care, State Veterans Home (SVH) Program, and Survivors Assistance Memorial Support (SAMS) Program. The position reports to the Associate Chief, Social Work Service, Geriatrics and Extended Care (GEC). Applicants must meet the requirements by the closing date of this announcement. 12/18/2024 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: 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: In addition to meeting the basic requirements stated above, the following qualifications criteria must be met in determining the appropriate grade assignment of candidates. GS-13 Supervisory Social Worker candidates must have the following: Experience/Education: Must have at least one year of experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience. AND Licensure/Certification: 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. Advanced License must be submitted with application. References: VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard, dated 9/10/19. For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge's Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAOs), you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position. Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training required; otherwise, we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim. If selected, you may be required to submit narrative responses then. These are the KSA's for this position and grade level: Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines. Skill in a range of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement. Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services by supervised social workers. Ability to delegate authority, manage priorities, coordinate work, and follow up on pending issues to complete duties in an accurate and timely fashion. Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems, develop and implement solutions that result in efficient operations, and use data effectively to manage workload, quality, performance, and productivity within the service. Ability to provide staff training and development. Physical Requirements: The physical demands of the work requires use of fingers; moderate walking and standing; near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in on eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; hearing aid permitted; clear speech; emotional stability; moderate duty. This supervisory position requires incumbent to be able to sit a work site, utilize a computer, mobile phone, fax machine and printer. This position requires travelling and using a government vehicle so a valid state driver's license is required. ["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 The Supervisory Social Worker oversees service delivery, to include care transitions, assessment/treatment/discharge planning, and care/case management activities of clinical social workers who provide psychosocial, behavioral/mental health and care/case management services to all eligible Veterans and provide support services to their family caregivers. Services are often provided to the most challenging patients of the VA and their families/caregivers. The population includes patients with severe/serious injuries, end stages/chronic/complex co-occurring illnesses/diseases, that includes, but is not limited to stroke, renal, hematology/oncology, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury disorders, severe mental illness, substance use disorders, homeless, frail elderly and more. The needs of Veterans are often complex, with an increased burden upon their family caregivers, requiring the Supervisory Social Worker to have a high degree of administrative and clinical oversight, advanced technical/clinical consultation skills, creative problem solving, critical thinking, and personal mastery skills. The position requires the Supervisory Social Worker to serve as Contracting Officer's Representative (COR I) to initiate and management various types of contracting agreements with the SVH program. In addition, the Supervisor Social Worker will be responsible for the Survivors Assistance Memorial Support (SAMS) program, which will be fully implemented in fiscal year 2026. The position also supervises staff within the CLC and Hospice/Palliative Care Units at both the Gainesville and Lake City VA facilities. The Supervisory Social Worker is required to drive and/or travel using personal vehicle or government vehicle to other sites of care within the NF/SG VHS, as well as, to community partners, as necessary to accomplish work assigned. Travel will be for long periods of time, up to three hours each way. Travel is expected at least 40% of work week but could be 100% of the work week when surveys are occurring within NF/SGVHS or at the SVHs. NF/SGVHS is a very large and highly complex VA level 1 a integrated health care system serving approximately 165,00 unique Veterans each year at 2 Medical Centers, 3 large outpatient clinics, and 9 community based outpatient clinics. The CLC and Hospice/Palliative Care responsibilities include 2 locations, Lake City, FL and Gainesville, FL, which are about 45 miles apart. Within the SVH Program, there are currently 2 SVH facilities, one located in Lake City, FL and one located in St. Augustine, FL (approximately 100 miles apart). The Supervisory Social Worker provides direct supervision to approximately 10 +/- clinical social workers, one Social Work Associate, 3 Program Support Assistants, and up to 2 MSW student interns, all assigned at 2 different VA medical centers approximately 45 miles apart. The Supervisory Social Worker provides coverage for other supervisors, Associate Chiefs and Chief as needed. Preferred experience: Current or past supervisory experience Experience in Geriatrics, Extended Care or CLC programs Experience with State Veterans Homes Programs Current or past contracting or budgeting experience Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 7:30am-400pm Telework: Ad-hoc available (emergencies only. Not recurring) Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 55450F/ Supervisory Social Worker Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Additional Benefits: Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of existing pay, higher or unique qualifications, or special needs of the VA. 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)"]
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.