The Senior Social Worker practices in the VA Eastern Colorado Healthcare System (VAECHCS) Rocky Mountain Regional Medical VA Center (RMR VAMC) in the Emergency Department (ED) Psychiatric Emergency Service (PES). The incumbent will work independently in the Emergency Department during evenings, weekends, and federal holidays, serving as the facility expert consultant on crisis intervention providing 100% face to face clinical care. 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. 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 4 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/. English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f). Grandfathering Provision: The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title 38 hybrid qualification standards. Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation. 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). All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply: Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions. Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard. Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation. If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. § 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation. 6 NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS-0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection. If they choose to return at a later date to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker. 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 9 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 on crisis response teams or psychiatric emergency departments. Experience assessing for crisis evaluations and developing safety plans. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is a GS-12. Physical Requirements: The incumbent must be able to engage in personal safety skills and therapeutic containment methods from the Prevention and Management of Disruptive Behavior (PMDB) curriculum. ["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 Duties and skills needed to be successful in this position include, but are not limited to: The incumbent will work in collaboration with providers across disciplines, conducting biopsychosocial assessments of patients presenting to the Emergency Department and providing resources and support to the Veteran's family as clinically indicated. Interventions to Veterans presenting to the ED include crisis intervention and clinical services such as, brief psychotherapy intervention and case management, resource management for homeless veterans, interventions to patients with severe mental illnesses, sleep hygiene counseling, bereavement counseling, substance use disorder education, referral, and resource management, psychiatric hospital admissions, sexual assault counseling, interpersonal violence counseling, and referrals to both VA and non-VA follow up services. The PES senior social worker will independently provide excellent clinical interventions to mitigate the frequency of acute hospitalizations. The incumbent will provide case management services to patients seen during after-hours to ensure patients are connected to resources as referred. The incumbent must provide thorough assessments of a patient's risk for suicide, homicide, and grave disability status using the most current Risk I.D. processes. They must also provide comprehensive and dynamic mental health safety planning. The incumbent will provide case management services in an effort to assist patients in resolving crises, and to ensure they are connected with services per the disposition/discharge plan. They will also provide consultation to/from other professional staff throughout the ECHCS system in support of behavioral health crisis interventions. The incumbent must maintain knowledge of current VHA directives, policies and SOPs related to this position, and must demonstrate ability to utilize this knowledge in delivery of care to all customers. They must also be involved in program development. including processes of developing new policies, standard operating procedures, and directives related to care for patients in crisis. The incumbent increases access to emergent care for veterans in crisis during evening, weekend, and holiday hours through the use of telephone interventions and video technology, such as VA Video Connect. This position collaborates with local Suicide Prevention team to ensure veterans seen after-hours and needing follow up with the Suicide Prevention team are connected appropriately. The incumbent may be requested to provide supervision of social workers for advanced practice licensure or the graduate trainee program, act as a mentor for less experienced social workers, participate or chair committees or groups that impact social work practice and/or lead roll out of evidence-based practices. The incumbent will be trained in documentation and case management operations for the Inpatient Mental Health Unit (H2-IPU) and can be deployed there to assist with initial intakes, treatment planning, and case management if there are critical staffing gaps and capacity in PES allows it. They may also lead psychoeducation or psychotherapeutic groups on the Inpatient Mental Health Unit. This Senior Social Worker adheres to the NASW Code of Ethics Work Schedule: Night and Weekends; Flexible Schedule (May require working on Holidays) Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. 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 #: 554-55905-A"]

Return to Search Results