Clarification from the agency

This Vacancy is open to the public. ***This position has a 20% sign on or relocation bonus!***

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***This position has a 20% sign on or relocation bonus!***

***The VA Northern Arizona Health Care System is Seeking Highly Energetic Candidates***

This vacancy is a solicitation for a Hiring Fair Event, which will be on an invite only basis once the position qualifications have been met. If you receive an invitation, you will be required to attend in person on:

• Date: 10/21/2023
• Time: 8:00 AM - 3:00 PM
• Location of Hiring Event: Prescott VA Hospital - (Address and map of hiring fair location will be provided to candidates who have met minimum qualifications for invitation)

You will be notified of your qualifications and if determined to be minimally qualified, you will receive an invitation for interview and MUST RSVP. Applicants should plan for a long day if selected, as there are several pre-employment stations to clear.

Requirements for Pre-Employment Screening:

• Fingerprints (Two forms of ID required)
• Security background
• Immunizations (Immunization records preferred)

Duties to include, but are not limited to:

• Developing partnerships with local, state, and federal agencies as well as non-governmental organizations. S/he will function in support of Veterans, family members, and staff throughout the CBOC's, NAVAHCS and in partnership with community resources. As a senior level Social Worker, the incumbent will provide consultation and guidance to colleagues, role model effective social work practice skills, teach or provide orientation to less experienced social workers, develop innovations in practice interventions, and provide clinical supervision for social work licensure or certification.
• Works with multiple VA healthcare services and with community agencies, leaders, and organizations where s/he has no access to social work clinical supervision. The incumbent assists in clinical and program development, and effectiveness of mental health services.
• The Senior Social Worker also requires a significant amount of flexibility and the ability to cover a broad range of often complex mental health and medical issues.
• Incumbent is a professional social worker assigned to support Social Work Service programming. Incumbent must possess the knowledge and ability to independently implement treatment modalities, identify level of functioning, degree of impairment in occupational, social, academic, interpersonal and family, evaluate and assess lethality, perform mental status exams (MSE), identify psychiatric manifestations of various medical conditions, possess knowledge of the criteria and state laws for legal commitment and involuntary hospitalizations, ability to assess and intervene with patients of suspected abuse and provide counseling or psychotherapy for individuals, families and groups. In addition, incumbent has working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures in working with diverse populations and circumstances. This includes acute, chronic, and traumatic illnesses/injuries, psychiatric, medical, and social problems, common medications and their effects/side effects and medical terminology.
• Determines the presenting problem, psychosocial factors impacting the problem, and obstacles to treatment and/or follow through with recommended treatments.
• Provides social work case management coordination with members of the treatment team, to ensure a collaborative effort to meet the treatment goals for a Veteran.
• Works with Veterans and their families experiencing a wide range of complicated medical, psychiatric, emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial problems independently.
• Completes thorough psychosocial assessments to determine the mental health diagnosis, psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and/or their families independently.
• Perform other assigned duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m./8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. work schedule, but work schedule may be adjusted to meet the needs of the service.
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized ***This position has a 20% sign on or relocation bonus!***
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a probationary period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• Citizenship: Citizen of the United States.
• Licensure: Candidate 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.
• Education: 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 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 master's degree in social work.

Grade Determinations:

GS-12 Senior Social Worker Experience: In addition to the basic requirements, applicants 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.
In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

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.

Assignments. 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.

References: VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G39 - Social Worker Qualification Standard.

Physical Requirements: The work environment involves everyday risks or discomforts that require normal safety precautions typical of such places as offices, training rooms, and libraries. The work area is adequately lighted, heated, and ventilated. The incumbent must also work outdoors in all types of weather. There may be occasional exposure to moderate risks or discomforts in storage areas or hazardous waste sites. The work is primarily sedentary, although some physical effort may be required, e.g., walking, standing, climbing ladders, stooping, kneeling, and carrying light items such as manuals or briefcases, or driving or traveling by motor vehicle.

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, resume, 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.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.