Clarification from the agency

Current permanent federal employees

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The incumbent serves as the VASNHCS HCHV Contract Liaison. The incumbent is responsible for oversight of the VASNHCS HCHV Contract Housing Program. The incumbent is also responsible for working with the Grant and Per Diem Liaison on Grant and Per Diem contract housing requirements. The HCHV programs are vital for providing safe transitional housing and supportive services for homeless Veterans. The Contract Liaison is responsible for the oversight of Contract Housing Program, and is responsible for working with the Grant and Per Diem Liaison to monitor and coordinate services provided by community based programs funded under VA's Homeless Grant and Per Diem Program. The Contract Liaison is responsible for the oversight of these services as well as the case management of the veterans who receive them.
The incumbent is responsible for providing direct services or referrals to homeless Veterans for services that will enable them to secure safe, affordable, quality permanent housing. Delivery of these services requires specialized knowledge and skills and extensive experience in resource identification and access with VA medical, mental health, substance abuse, and other specialty clinical providers, as well as community collaboration; understanding of HUD regulations, interpretation and repair strategies to successfully overcome housing acceptance barriers including negative housing histories, bad credit and criminal records, and the preparation of appeal presentations.
The incumbent functions as a Senior Social Worker and serves as the VASNHCS Contract Housing Contract Liaison for the Health Care for Homeless Veterans Programs. The incumbent provides oversight of community-based contract residential housing programs, to include coordinating required inspections and reports to VACO. The incumbent also works with the Grant and Per Diem Liaison to provide oversight of the Grant and Per Diem programs as defined in the HCHV contract rules, regulations, and directives. This includes verification of Veteran status and eligibility for participation in the HCHV contract residential housing program, and Grant and Per Diem program maintaining admission and discharge dates of participants for billing purposes, reviewing and approving/disapproving readmissions to and extensions of care, and collecting and submitting participant information as outlined by NEPEC evaluations procedures.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday; 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Position Title/Functional Statement #:Social Worker - Contract Liaison/PD402790
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Contact V21CCOEEDRP@va.gov , the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
Driver's License - the position requires that the incumbent must possess a valid state driver's license

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• 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
• Participation in the seasonal influenza and Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Vaccination programs are requirements for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP)

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement, 09/30/2021.

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:
Citizenship: Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-Citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens.

English Language Proficiency: Social Workers must be proficient in spoken and written English.

Grade Determinations:
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. (COPIES OF TRANSCRIPTS MUST BE SUBMITTED WITH APPLICATION PACKET)

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/.
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.

Certification: Must provide verification of training or certification sufficient to provide clinical supervision to unlicensed social workers (copy of certification required; in CA, 15 hours is required).

SPECIALIZED EXPERIENCE:
The candidate must have at least two years 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 and have completed training in order to provide clinical supervision to unlicensed social workers (copy of certification required). Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment and 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.

(EVIDENCE OF THIS EXPERIENCE MUST BE DOCUMENTED IN YOUR RESUME).

In addition to meeting the basic requirements, the candidate must demonstrate the professional knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) below.

1. 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.

2. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.

3. 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.

4. 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.

5. 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 Social Worker, available in local VA Human Resource Offices.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: The work involves sedentary activity as well as walking movement in and around a community-based program, the community, and the medical center. In addition, the work involves driving to and from the VA, the community-based program and community for purposes of community or VA outreach or organization meetings. Data collection and writing preparation is needed a well as data entry into the computer system.

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.