Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. **This OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCMENT will remain open until April 14, 2026. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be March 3, 2026 , with subsequent cut-off dates every 2 weeks. Eligible applications received after that date will be accepted on an ongoing basis and qualified candidates will be considered as vacancies become available.*

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Senior Social Worker - BHIP, is responsible for treating Veterans with more chronic mental health concerns. They provide immediate, direct and on-site access for social work consultation, assessment, and mental health treatment as clinically indicated. Senior Social Worker operates within a multidisciplinary team matrix, actively collaborates, and coordinates Veteran care with other clinical and administrative supporting services. They provide evidence-based therapeutic interventions supported by the standards of care within the social work community; implements and meets performance requirements for quality and timeliness of clinical care; employs recovery-oriented interventions; and successfully completes other clinical duties as assigned. Senior Social Worker may also participate in interviews for positions in the Behavioral Health/Mental Health Clinics.

Duties may include but are not limited to:

• Provides clinical services including direct care to Veterans enrolled in BHIP.
• Effectively uses professional skill, objectivity, and insight. Clinical training, insight, and experience interpreting data and identifying viable treatment options.
• Establishes, implements, and maintains referrals and screening procedures.
• Develop screening procedures that involve a multidisciplinary team approach.
• Ensure screening criteria are met and procedures are maintained.
• Assesses at risk factors and develops a preliminary disposition plan.
• Performs insightful assessment of serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness, catastrophic medical conditions, dementia, and other high-risk diagnoses.
• Develop comprehensive treatment plans in coordination with interdisciplinary team members.
• Adjusts and updates to the treatment plan and interventions based on the Veteran's changing needs.
• Participate in the assignment of Veterans to treatment teams and programs.
• Consults with other specialists in planning treatment for Veterans with co-morbidities.
• Provides individual, family, and group therapy services.
• Responsible for all entries in the Veteran's medical record (CPRS) and timely completion thereof, including discharge summaries and patient encounters.
• Responsible for completion of all assigned clinical reminders for patients under their care, and performance measures assigned to the Behavioral Health Service.
• Fully accountable for practice, including entering Veteran visits, measuring outcomes to interventions, and meeting productivity standards. Ensures timely completion of assessments, treatment plans, discharge plans, and safety plans.
• Participate fully in peer review, assessing the quality of professional social work practice standards provided in the organization.
• Responsible for identification of patient problems requiring consultation with other multi-disciplinary medical center staff and making appropriate referrals.
• Serves as a consultant, liaison, and point of contact for programs within the Behavioral Health Service, throughout the hospital, and within the community.
• Participates in education/CME lectures, research, specialty care programs, and/or clinics.
• Participates in research as appropriate through case finding and referral of Veterans to clinical investigators engaged in research or through participating in research studies.
• Promotes Veteran independence and achievement of optimal health through appropriate psychosocial education, care coordination, and community referrals.
• Provides education related to VA and community resources, entitlements/benefits, and Advance Directives and Living Will.

Work Schedule: Full-time, tour to be determined upon selection
Compressed/Flexible:Authorized
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases
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: Available (Ad hoc)
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 00814F

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.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• 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 tohttp://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a Master of Social Work.
• Licensure. People 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 tohttp://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.

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).

Grandfathering Provision. The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title38 hybrid qualification standards. Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation.(1)All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply:(2)Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.(3)Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.(4)Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.(5)If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. § 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.

NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS- 0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection. If they choose to return later to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker

.GS-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. 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 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.

Preferred Experience: EBP experience; Outpatient Therapy; Time Limited Treatments

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: In accordance with VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

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.