Clarification from the agency

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Full Summary:

The Suicide Prevention Coordinator - Integrated Care Specialist (SPC-ICS) facilitates the implementation of suicide prevention strategies at a local level through education, monitoring, and coordination activities. The SPC-ICS functions as an intensive mental health care coordinator for care of Veterans at elevated risk of suicide. Incumbent works closely with the suicide prevention team to serve and advisors to the Chief of Mental Health, facility leadership, program managers, and staff concerning suicide prevention strategies for individual patients, for the facility, and Veteran community as a whole.

Services provided include comprehensive assessment of suicide risk, diagnosis of mental health conditions, implementation of safety plans and risk mitigation strategies, assessment and monitoring of Veterans flagged as high risk for suicide, provision of intensive mental health care management services and brief suicide risk reduction focused interventions, and integration onto Veteran's clinical treatment teams.

The Social Worker is capable of practicing at the advanced level and has specialized knowledge of practice typically related to suicide (causes and prevention).

Functions and Scope of Assigned Duties:

The SPC-ICS serves as the lead SPC for monitoring Veteran with a high risk for suicide flag as well as those Veterans who are clinically assessed to be at elevated risk to avoid escalation of risk. Incumbent (a) tracks appointments, (b) coordinates enhanced care as needed, (c)educates providers, Veterans, families, and members of the community about risk factors and warning signs for suicide, (d) maintains regular contact and provides proactive outreach and intensive care management interventions as needed, (e) consults with clinical teams regarding risk assessment, safety planning, and risk mitigation strategies

The SPC-ICS is responsible for following up on consults (within 24 business hours) received from the Veterans Crisis Line to assure timely access to care and follow-up for patients in crisis.

The SPC-ICS is responsible for continued contact and monitoring with Veterans that have been identified as high-risk for suicide to assure continued care and treatment.

The SPC-ICS ensures that patients identified as being at high risk for suicide receive follow­ up for any missed mental health and substance abuse appointments in conjunction with the clinical treatment team, and that this follow-up is documented in the electronic medical record.

The SPC-ICS is responsible for maintaining a facility high risk for suicide patient flag (HRF) list, per their consultation with clinicians. The SPC team exclusively controls the Category I Patient Record Flag as it relates to suicide and limits its use to patients who meet the criteria of being placed in the program. The SPC maintains the list of patients who have a HRF for suicide and reviews the list per current directive guidelines.

The SPC-ICS will monitor and ensure regular personal contact with Veterans who have been identified as surviving an attempt or who are identified as being high risk.

SPC-ICS will assist in the Caring Contact program in order to provide an "enhanced care" model of prevention which maintains communication with the Veteran.

The SPC-ICS documents, when appropriate, the nature of follow-up and plans for continuing treatment in the electronic medical record.

The SPC-ICS coordinates the aggregate suicide Root Cause Analyses (RCA's) and participates in individual RCA's concerning patients who have attempted or died by suicide.

The SPC-ICS is responsible for the delivery of Operation S.A.V.E. training, or other approved "gatekeeper" training, to all non-clinical staff.

The SPC-ICS is also responsible for the delivery of other training programs at the site by request of the facility.

The SPC-ICS should develop partnerships with their facility Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Coordinators, Patient Safety Managers (PSM), Healthcare for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) Coordinators, local Vet Center staff, residential care teams and local mental health teams. This partnership is to assure that patients are assessed and evaluated for suicide risk as appropriate and preventative interventions are in place.

The SPC-ICS is responsible for staff and patient education during Suicide Awareness Week, which is usually the second week in September of each year.

The SPC-ICS is a resource for both the VA facility and community related to Veteran suicide and suicide prevention issues.

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday - 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM
Relocation/Recruitment Incentive: Not Available
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: Not Available
Financial Disclosure Report: Not require

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, 03/29/2021.

Basic Requirements:

1. United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.

2. 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). A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master's degree in social work.

3. 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.

Preferred Experience:

• A minimum of 1 year experience working in suicide prevention
• At least 1-year experience working with crisis management, conducting comprehensive risk assessments, and coordinating referrals.
• Experience with intensive outpatient mental health case management.
• Experience with evidence based treatments.

Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

For GS-12 Social Worker Program Manager:For Social Worker Program Coordinators, grades are determined by the scope of responsibility and the type, size, and complexity of the assignment.

(a) Experience, Education and Licensure. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator or manager must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level. Their experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment, demonstrating progressively more professional competency. They 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. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the professional KSAs in subparagraph (b) below.

(b) Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
1. In-depth knowledge of the program coordinated, and demonstrated knowledge and ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program.
2. Knowledge and skill in management/administration, which includes supervision, consultation, negotiation, and monitoring.
3. Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program.
4. Ability to organize work, set priorities, meet multiple deadlines, and evaluate assigned program area(s).
5. Ability to provide training, orientation, consultation and guidance within clinical specialization of practice.

Assignments: The KSAs shown above apply to all Social Worker Program Coordinator grade levels.
1. GS-12 Social Worker Program Coordinators. Program coordinators at the GS-12 grade are administratively responsible for a clinical program providing treatment to patients in a major specialty, such as Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) coordinators, Visual Impairment Services Team (VIST) coordinators, Homeless Veterans Program (HVP) coordinators, Community Nursing Home Program (CNHP) coordinators. They may be the sole practitioner in this specialty at the facility and typically provide direct patient care services in the program area. They manage the daily operation of the program, develop policies and procedures for program operation, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They may be responsible for the program's budget.

Reference: VA HANDBOOK 5005/23 Part II Appendix G39

Physical Requirements:

• The incumbent appropriate use of equipment, supplies.
• The incumbent maintains safe, orderly work areas.
• The incumbent reports any accident to self, patient, and staff and fills out appropriate forms.
• The incumbent follows Life Safety Management (fire protection) procedures.
• The incumbent reports safety hazards, accidents and injuries and reviews hazardous.
• The incumbent follows Emergency Preparedness plan, follows security policies/procedures, and complies with federal, state and local environmental and other requirements preventing pollution, minimizing waste, and conserving cultural and natural resources.
• The incumbent demonstrates infection control practices for disease prevention (i.e. hand washing, universal precautions/isolation procedures, including TB requirement/precautions).
• The physical demands of this position involve primarily walking, talking, driving, use of the telephone, etc. Strenuous physical activity is not required although the incumbent is expected to withstand pressure and stress as part of their day-today activities.

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.

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.