The Senior Social Worker (Emergency Department) is an Advanced Licensed SW who provides general psychosocial services in the ED and also serves as a Mental Health provider. Must be able to function with limited supervision and coordinate services for Veterans in the ED. These may include but are not limited to Advance Care Planning and facilitation of home care services. 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 (MSW) 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 (www.cswe.org) 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-185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level. English Language Proficiency: Social workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA Handbook 5005, Part II, chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3j. 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: (a) 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. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) 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. (d) 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. (e) 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, Part II Appendix G39 http://vaww.va.gov/ohrm/Directives-Handbooks/Documents/5005.pdf Physical Requirements: Extended periods of standing, bending and carrying light items such as books, medical records and paper is required. Walking long distance throughout the medical center, on units and between divisions is required. Conducting patient encounters in a community setting or in the patient's home environment may be required. Position often places the incumbent in a position of stress. Due to the nature of the work, the incumbent may come in contact with Veteran patients who are confused, intoxicated or have a contagious condition. Ability to drive a car and have a valid state license is required. Exposure to dangerous situations in the community from traffic accidents to crime is also possible. ["Major duties include, but are not limited to the following: The Senior Social Worker must have experience with treatment planning with Veterans with complex Physical and Mental Health needs. The social worker will be required to complete both Mental Health and Medical Psychosocial Assessments. This individual must be able to complete required documentation for Voluntary and Involuntary Inpatient admissions. The individual must be able to demonstrate an advanced level of mental health and medical competence in working in a high-paced emergency department. The Senior Social Worker must be able to complete the VHA required Suicide Comprehensive Risk Screening Evaluation and provide crisis intervention to Veterans in distress. Skilled in making rapid clinical decisions and serving as the subject matter expert on VHA, VBA and community resources. Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned by the assigned Supervisor and/or Social work Executive/Chief as needed for the benefit of the veteran, family, and quality of services provided. Additionally, the incumbent may be relocated to another office, or building, or include Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC), to support the mission of the medical center. The individual will be required to work an irregular tour of duty, to include weekends, depending on the needs of the program, service, and medical center. The individual will also be required to participate in the medical center's social work on-call rotation. Social work on-call coverage is between 11:00 p.m. and 7:00 a.m., to include weekends and holidays. Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM and Irregular Tours to include weekends/Evenings Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

Return to Search Results