Clarification from the agency

This position is open to all U.S. citizens. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

Videos

This position is located in Casper Wyoming

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU
Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

• Interviews veterans and their family members/significant others to establish facts about the veteran's situation, presenting problems and their causes, and the impact of such problems on the veteran's functioning and health as part of a psychosocial assessment.
• Acts as a consultant on topics related to women's mental health to other team/staff members and take a lead clinical role in case consultation.
• Identifies targeted training needs specifically around gender specific mental health needs not limited to; menopause, infertility, eating disorders, postpartum.
• Collaborates with the Intimate Partner Violence Coordinator, Military Sexual Trauma Coordinator, Women's Health Medical Director and Women's Veteran Program Manager.
• Effectively uses professional skill, objectivity, and insight. Uses advanced clinical training, and experience to identify viable treatment options and makes appropriate referrals for care.
• Serves veterans as inpatients or outpatients who often have severe crises, lack family or community support, frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or have significant deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychological support.
• Independently evaluates the client's situation, including the veteran's reaction and ability to deal with it, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion.
• Assesses serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness, catastrophic medical conditions, dementia and other high-risk diagnoses.
• On an inpatient/outpatient basis, finds a suitable means of treatment to help veterans and/or significant others cope with stressful situations
• Develops psychosocial treatment plans in coordination with interdisciplinary team members, including goals for treatment.
• Provides independent consultation and makes recommendations to interdisciplinary team on course of treatment.
• Participates in professional peer review, case conferences, or other organized means.
• Provides clinical services to veterans and family members/significant others in support of the veteran's treatment.
• Provides individual and group counseling services, including psychotherapy in some settings.
• PACT services include assisting Veterans with Digital Divide/Telehealth issues.
• Coordinates care and services with resources and service-lines in the Sheridan VA HCS and in the community.
• Establishes and maintains positive working relationships with employees, volunteers, consumers and stakeholders within the VA and outside community agencies.
• Collaborates in the performance improvement processes and comply with performance measures as required by the VHA and for Social Work Service.
• Completes the continuing education hours need for maintaining Professional Licensure.
• Demonstrates professional behavior that conforms to VA regulations and policy, State and Federal laws, and ethical codes of appropriate professional social work accrediting organizations.
• May provide clinical supervision to various disciplines and levels of training, including trainees seeking licensure.
• Provides leadership guidance and consultation to staffs of units to which assigned.
• Serves as a consultant to other medical center staff and trainees and assists in their formulation of the psychological characteristics and appropriate
• Serves on Medical Center or Healthcare System, VISN, and/or National VA committees or task forces.
• Actively participates in leadership roles on local, state, and national professional organizations.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 7:30 am to 4 pm
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)
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: This position is authorized for telework - situational (ad hoc) and has NOT been authorized as virtual or remote.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 59968-O
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 identification 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

*** This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until November 13, 2026. The initial cutoff date for referral of eligible applications will be May 27th, 2026. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred at regular intervals or as additional vacancies occur on an as needed basis until positions are filled. ***

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.

English Language Proficiency - You must be proficient in spoken and written English as required 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 to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.

Licensure or Certification - 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/.

Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker, GS-12 In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

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.

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.

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.

Preferred Experience: The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure

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

Physical Requirements: This position provides direct services to patients and their families through casework. Incumbents must be physically and mentally able to efficiently perform the essential functions of the position without hazard to themselves or others. Normal work of the position requires visual acuity (with the ability to read typewritten characters without strain, corrective lenses permitted), keen hearing, clear distinctive speech, and manual dexterity. This position requires potentially moderate levels of lifting and carrying (15-44 pounds). The incumbent may occasionally be exposed to patients who are combative secondary to delirium, dementia, or psychiatric disorders. The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs. Must complete annual Employee Health requirements, such as annual TB screening or testing, as a condition of employment. Must have a valid driver's license in a state. May be expected to operate Government 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.