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Senior Social Worker

Department of Veterans Affairs
Veterans Health Administration
Veterans Health Administration
This job announcement has closed

Summary

The Departments of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and Veterans Affairs (VA) have established the HUD-VASH Supportive Housing (HUD VASH) Program - a collaborative effort, supported through HUD Section 8 rental assistance vouchers and VA's provision of intensive case management services. The primary goal of HUD-VASH is to move veterans and their families out of chronic homelessness.



Overview

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Hiring complete
Open & closing dates
08/27/2024 to 09/10/2024
Salary
$107,977 to - $140,365 per year
Pay scale & grade
GS 12
Location
1 vacancy in the following location:
Baltimore, MD
1 vacancy
Remote job
No
Telework eligible
Yes—as determined by the agency policy.
Travel Required
50% or less - You may be expected to travel for this position.
Relocation expenses reimbursed
No
Appointment type
Permanent
Work schedule
Full-time
Service
Excepted
Promotion potential
None
Job family (Series)
Supervisory status
No
Security clearance
Not Required
Drug test
No
Position sensitivity and risk
Non-sensitive (NS)/Low Risk
Trust determination process
Financial disclosure
No
Bargaining unit status
Yes
Announcement number
CBTF-12523276-24-MT
Control number
806707300

Videos

Duties

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VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU

Duties include but may not be limited to:

  • Serves as the medical center's primary point of contact for the National HUD-VASH Program, Office of Mental Health Services, and VACO.
  • Responsible for data collection, administrative record keeping and monitoring patient or program clinical indicators, thresholds, and performance measurements. Additionally, the incumbent develops working relationships and agreements with other organizations and directly coordinates with the designated Public Housing Authorities (PHA) regarding housing voucher application and award process for each veteran.
  • Responsible to review the agreements between Section 8 landlords, PHAs, and the VA to establish appropriate referral sites for placements.
  • Establishes, implements, and maintains referral and screening procedures for potential HUD-VASH veteran participants that meet national policy as well as the needs of medical center mental health services and residential programs.
  • Recognizes program eligibility, prioritization of subsets of the homeless veteran population, requirements of the PHAs, and other policy, regulation, or law pertaining to program administration.
  • Develops the. screening procedures to involve a multidisciplinary team approach and is responsible to ensure criteria and -procedures are maintained.
  • Provides primary input for program participant selection based on structured interviews and clinical assessments.
  • Regularly conducts and participants in outreach activities including field interviews, assessments and referrals for homeless veterans contacted in the community, shelters, and on the streets, as well as those who are referred by VA residential programs, medical centers or outpatient clinics.
  • Maintains current and establishes new relationships with other community-based service providers for the homeless, and when appropriate, represents VA at community service provider meetings.
  • Evaluates the veteran's situation, abilities, and capabilities, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion including an assessment of vulnerability and prioritization for admission.
  • Assesses at-risk factors and develops a preliminary plan, involving the veteran and family or significant others, and performs an insightful assessment of serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness which may also include, catastrophic medical condition, dementia, traumatic brain injuries, and other high risks diagnoses. As part of a comprehensive psychosocial assessment, the incumbent interviews the veteran and their family members or significant others to establish facts about the veteran's situation, presenting problems and their causes, and the impact of such problems on the veterans functioning and health.
  • Reviews all data, subjective and objective and makes a clinical assessment, identifying needs and strengths. Based on the psychosocial assessment, the incumbent uses professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis.
  • Provides referral to VA medical and mental health inpatient and outpatient treatment and to other VA services including VA benefits, as well as community-based social services and other non-VA entitlement programs.
  • If appropriate, the incumbent provides referrals or consults, or in some cases direct admission of the veterans prior to HUD-VASH participation, from other VA programs including community-based residential treatment such as Grant and Per Diem (GPD) Programs, Health Care for Homeless Veterans (HCHV) contract residential treatment, Domiciliary or Psychiatric Residential Rehabilitation and Treatment Programs (PRRTP), or Compensated Work Therapy (CWT) and Compensated Work Therapy Transnational Residence (CWT/TR)Programs.
  • Establishes procedures and coordinates the screening and admission process for the HUD-VASH program by developing and maintaining criteria that recognizes program eligibility, prioritization for program acceptance, and requirements of the PHAs.
Work Schedule: 8am-4:30pm
Telework: Ad-Hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 512-23010-F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: No
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): No
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Requirements

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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

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

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 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.
  • 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/.
  • English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. ยง 7403(f).
May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).Grade Determinations: Grade Determinations:
  • 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 to qualify for the GS-12 level. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized areas of practice. Senior social workers may have certification or other post-master's 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:
  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.
Preferred Experience:
  • Prefer experience with homelessness
  • Prefer case management experience
References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: The work is primarily sedentary. It may require some lifting (10-20 lbs.) occasionally. Reaching above shoulder; Frequent keyboarding (4-7 hours per day); Sitting (4-7 hours per day); Walking up to 6 hours per day); Standing (up to 8 hours per day); Infrequent climbing/descending of stairs; Some bending; Ability for rapid mental and muscular coordination simultaneously; Correctable near sighted and far sighted vision; Hearing (Aid permitted).

Education

IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

How you will be evaluated

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

Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

1. Current permanent Federal employees.
2. US Citzens.

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.

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