Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. The cut-off date is April 27, 2026, OR the point at which the first 50 applications are received, whichever comes first.

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

Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

The Senior Social Worker assigned to the PTSD Residential Recovery Program (PRRP) functions at the advanced practice level and provides specialized, evidence-based PTSD treatment, intensive case management, and comprehensive screening/assessment services for Veterans and Active-Duty Service Members (ADSMs) residing in PRRP. Care is delivered within the Mental Health Residential
Rehabilitation Treatment Program (MH RRTP) bed level of care and aligns with national VHA policy for MH RRTP operations and the VA/DoD Clinical Practice Guideline (CPG) for PTSD (e.g., trauma-focused psychotherapies such as CPT, PE, and EMDR).

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• Conducts comprehensive biopsychosocial and trauma-focused assessments and formulates individualized treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran and the interdisciplinary PRRP team, consistent with policy.
• Implements measurement-based care (e.g., PCL-5) at baseline and regular intervals to monitor symptom change and guide clinical decision-making; documents results and uses them to adjust treatment plans.
• Performs required risk screening and assessment (e.g., suicide risk per VHA Risk ID procedures), creates/updates safety plans, and coordinates risk management with Suicide Prevention and PRRP staff.
• Provides individual psychotherapy utilizing guideline-recommended, trauma-focused evidence-based treatments such as Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and EMDR, when clinically appropriate and within licensure/privileging; may utilize other guideline-supported interventions (e.g., Present-Centered Therapy, Written Exposure Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction) based on needs and preferences.
• Facilitates multiple PRRP group therapies per week (e.g., trauma recovery skills, coping with triggers, stress management, sleep/nightmare management, interpersonal effectiveness, relapse prevention for co-occurring conditions), ensuring curriculum fidelity and integration with individual treatment plans and program goals.
• Provides intensive case management throughout the residential stay: admission screening, orientation, goal setting, coordination of medical/psychiatric care, benefits and social supports, and discharge planning with warm handoffs to outpatient PTSD clinics (e.g., PCT), and community resources.
• Serves as a primary resource on community and VA programs, arranging referrals and collaborating with internal/external partners to address housing, employment, education, family support, and Whole Health resources, as available locally.
• Participates in admission screening, unit orientation, daily community meetings, and milieu interventions; including timely communication of critical changes in Veteran status.
• Contributes to program evaluation and quality improvement; assists with developing group schedules, clinical pathways, and performance measures consistent with national guidance.
• Collaborates with psychiatry, psychology, nursing, recreation therapy, peer support, pharmacy, and others on interdisciplinary treatment planning and reviews; provides consultation on trauma-informed care and psychosocial factors impacting adherence and recovery. Offers education/mentoring to staff and trainees.
• Completes timely, accurate EHR documentation for assessments, treatment plans, progress notes, risk assessments/safety plans, consults, and discharge summaries, following VHA Patient Care Data Capture and Closeout requirements and facility policies.
• Other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Full-Time - 7:30am to 4:00pm
Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized.
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact V21ccoeedrp@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
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)
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: Ad-Hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 09711-F
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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.
• 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. 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/.
• Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Senior 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 of the following KSAs:
  • 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.
  • Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.

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

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

Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

Other Significant Information: Driving will be required for this position, thought it would be on rare and necessary occasions. The incumbent in this position is not expected to transport veterans regularly.

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.