Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this occupational series. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

Videos

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU
VA Careers - Licensed Clinical Social Worker: https://youtube.com/embed/U_xC25QsN0w

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Major duties include, but are not limited to:

Patient Care

• Independently performs case finding functions and outreach, identifying and screening patients for psychosocial needs. Incumbent must possess the knowledge and ability to independently implement treatment modalities, provide counseling or psychotherapy for individuals, families and groups.
• Independently conducts psychosocial assessments. Develops treatment plans in collaboration with the veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team, and implements recommendations and treatment plan elements. Incumbent possesses the skills to offer psychosocial interventions and measures outcomes to interventions.
• Incumbent is able to coordinate community-based services, including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, other government programs and community agency programs.
• Senior Social Worker has advanced clinical knowledge in mental health and expertise in medical social work, and provides consultation and guidance to colleagues on clinical matters, and develops innovative practice interventions. Will have advanced clinical practice skills, and can identify the complex relationship between health care and psychosocial problems, providing clinical oversight, coordination, and creative problem solving.
• Serves as the primary resource/contact person for general outpatient medicine, Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) questions, monitoring of outpatient work, tracking information and trends from outpatient requests and Veteran identified need. They will be responsible for mentoring and providing guidance and training to newly assigned social workers or those experiencing difficulty. They will be responsible for working with the care team to resolve difficult patient care situations and serve as the primary consultant when these situations arise. The incumbent will carry a smaller clinical case load than other social workers assigned to outpatient. They will delegate outpatient work assignments to ensure adequate clinical coverage of outpatient PACTS. They will involve the Primary Care Social Work Supervisor, Patient
• Advocates and other leadership staff as needed to resolve issues or concerns.
• Incumbent provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members. Has working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures.
• Establishes and maintains effective therapeutic relationships with veterans and their families. The incumbent will independently work with patients and families who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical and social problems utilizing individual, group and family counseling and therapy skills.
• Independently provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plan. Ability to evaluate incumbent's own practice through professional peer review, case conferences and other organizational means. Incumbent can communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with people from varied backgrounds.
• General knowledge of veterans' benefits and services relating to special programs, service connected compensation, non-service

Work Schedule: Monday through Friday: 08:00 to 16:30
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year). Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior [work experience] or military service experience.
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Not Available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

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.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

Qualifications

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: Must possess a Master's degree in social work from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE).
• Licensure: Must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in written and spoken English to be appointed.

Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker GS-0185-12

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. 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:
Applicants must meet the requirements for providing supervision in the state where they are licensed at the advanced practice level and should list these qualifications within the assessment narrative and their resume. Documentation is required if part of your state's requirements for providing supervision for licensure is beyond your licensure only (example: certification of continuing education credits).

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities:
In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

(a)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.
(b)Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
(c)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.
(d)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.
(e)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: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://department.va.gov/employees/va-qualifications-standards/

Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

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.