Clarification from the agency

Open to U.S. Citizens

This position is located in the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System catchment area. The Senior Social Worker has experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgement in clinical services for homeless Veterans. Duties of the position include:
Develops appropriate professional relationships with community stakeholders and is responsible for communicating potential policy or protocol changes to local leadership;
Coordinates housing and services for homeless Veterans with the Community of Care (CoC) or other key partners;
Coordinates local planning efforts in the creation of a Coordinated Entry System (CES);
Functions as the Department's liaison for coordinating outreach efforts with local community partners;
Participates in CoC meetings and planning efforts, which may include leadership roles within the CoC;
Serves as a direct link between community services and CERS homeless services through regular and consistent outreach and communication with community providers;
Participates in the case conferencing process with CoC's coordinated entry system to help inform and facilitate referrals to VA programs;
Ensures efficient sharing of Veteran data and program information, as allowed under VA privacy and Information Security policies and Directives;
Participates and contributes to a CoC level resource-and-demand analysis, including periodic review of the gaps to determine inflows/outflows, and makes recommendation to CERS leadership on adjustments to resource allocations within coordinated entry based on this analysis;
Provides support to CERS teams as a functional member of program team, to include participation in outreach activities and provides subject matter consultation on community involved interventions for homeless Veterans;
Serves as a member of a multidisciplinary homeless program treatment team to link team discussions with community's care conferencing discussions;
Provides clinical services and appropriate clinical documentation for homeless Veterans encountered through the community's coordinated entry system or other service access points.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• Designated and/or random drug testing may be required
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959
• You may be required to serve a probationary period
• Subject to a background/security investigation
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 02/20/2020.
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. 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. NOTE: You must submit a copy of your transcripts. 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 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 Advanced Practice level. Current state requirements may be found on the OHRM website. https://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/
• English Language Proficiency. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. Social Workers must be proficient in spoken and written English in accordance with VA policy.

Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker, GS-12

Experience/Education: You 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.

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 described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of the job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential job functions.
Employee is required to: walk and climb stairs, handle, finger, grasp and feel objects and equipment; reach with hands and arms; communicate; receive and exchange ideas, information by means of the spoken and written work; be mobile by oneself from place to place quickly and easily; repeat various motions with the wrists, hands and fingers; be able to have visual acuity for (including, but not limited to) administrative and clerical tasks; drive government vehicles in or around Los Angeles County and City of Los Angeles and transport clients; be able to enter various buildings that may require climbing stairs.
Pursuant to VA Handbook 5019, Part II, Appendix A, Paragraph 1.a and 1.a.(3), All motor vehicle operators and incidental drivers shall undergo a standard pre-placement examination and periodic medical evaluation at least once every 4 years to ensure that employees who operate government owned or leased vehicles are medically able to do so without undue risk to themselves or others. This includes wage-grade drivers, Title 5, Title 38, and hybrid employees who transport patients, who are required to be medically cleared utilizing the medical conditions and medical criteria established by the VHA Occupational Health Services.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, résumé, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

NOTE: The Professional Standards Board (a peer-review group) will review the selected candidate's education and experience and recommend the grade and salary at which the candidate will be placed. For internal selectees eligible for promotion, the board will recommend grade and HR will determine step in accordance with policy.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.