Clarification from the agency

This position is open to current, permanent employees of the Hershel "Woody" Williams VA Medical Center Only. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

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The Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) Senior Social Worker is part of the Hershel "Woody" Williams VAMC Outpatient Mental Health Clinic and serves as the Senior Social Worker in BHIP at the medical center and its Community Based Outpatient Clinics

Major duties include, but are not limited to the following:

• Provides leadership in case consultation by facilitating interdisciplinary team meetings to support complex clinical mental health care. Integrates best practices to inform treatment team recommendations. Have diverse mental health and therapeutic experience and knowledge to contribute meaningfully to discuss and collaborate on new and complex cases for treatment recommendations
• Demonstrates experience in coordinating complex systems of care for mental health case management services to include internal and external referrals, resources, education, advocacy, and supportive services
• Conduct thorough and accurate mental health assessments requiring advanced diagnostic skills and knowledge of various mental health screening tools. Apply advanced clinical judgement in complex differential diagnoses, identifying underlying issues and providing consultation to Veterans and other healthcare providers regarding efficacious treatment options
• Develops individualized treatment plans with measurable goals for Veterans with highly complex needs, utilizing evidence-based practices and tailoring intervention to each individual's care needs. Routinely evaluates the effectives of treatment plans and updates based on current evidence based care and outcome data
• Administers tools and psychometric instruments for measurement-based care to measure and improve patient outcomes. Interpret and apply their results to improve patient outcomes, as well as integrate into the treatment planning process
• Delivers advanced level individual, group and family psychotherapy for highly complex and treatment resistant cases utilizing evidence based modalities and interventions such as Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Eye Movement Desensitization Therapy (EMDR). Utilizes Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (ICBT) for marriage and family therapy
• Completes suicide risk evaluations utilizing assigned and shared templates in the Computerized Patient Record System (CPRS) on all patients with suicidal ideation and on any patient whose record is flagged "High Risk for Suicide", or as clinically indicated. Assess suicide risk factors, protective factors, warning signs, mental health status, make a clinical determination on lethality, severity, immediacy of risk along with appropriate treatment recommendations to mitigate risk
• Collaboratively develops Suicide Safety Plans on patients identified as high risk for suicide or as clinically indicated with Veterans and family members by identifying potential triggers, internal coping strategies and protective factors. Integrates evidence-based safety planning interventions including the Veterans Crisis Line and other relevant emergency contact, resources
• Provides mental health crisis intervention services. Utilize de-escalation techniques and rapid assessment to coordinate an appropriate level of care

Work Schedule: Full-time, Monday-Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm
Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact VHA.ELRSProgramSupport@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
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: Ad-hoc as determined by Agency policy
Virtual: This is not a virtual position
Functional Statement #: 000000
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.
• Must pass pre-employment physical evaluation
• 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

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 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/.
• 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: Senior Social Worker, GS-12

Experience Requirement: You must possess 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.
Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to: assessing and documenting identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and/or intimate partner violence; use of clinical social work skills; maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality per policies, handbooks or directives; acting as an advocate with appropriate community service providers and agencies when it serves the best interest of the patient and family members/caregiver; independently assessing the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members, identifying the patient's strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and psychosocial acuity. Applicable experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. In addition to the experience above, you must demonstrate the following Knowledge, Skills and Abilities:

• 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:

• Mental Health experience including marriage and family therapy.

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

Physical Requirements: Majority of work is completed in an office setting. The work of this position of primarily sedentary with occasional walking of short distances. No heavy lifting required. The incumbent must be a mature, flexible, sensible individual capable of working effectively in stressful situations, able to shift priorities based on patient needs.

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.