Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. This vacancy is open to all United States Citizens.  Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order: 1) Current permanent VA employees of the facility. 2) All other VA employees. 3) Current permanent Federal employees of other agencies.4) All other applicants. This is is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and will remain open until September 30, 2027.

Videos

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

Major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:

• The PCMHI Social Worker provides a full range of psychological assessment services as indicated for the primary care environment and diagnoses mental disorders, particularly for complex or unusually difficult patients including those with medical conditions that have mental health components (e.g., diabetes, thyroid disorders, digestive system disorders, chronic pain, other chronic illnesses as well as substance use disorders).
• The PCMHI Social Worker will support same-day access to mental health services for Veterans as deemed necessary by the service, in person, by telehealth and by telephone.
• The PCMHI Social Worker receives Veteran referrals through the PACT. The PCMHI provider responds to emergent and non-emergent requests with same-day and warm handoff care, and also fulfills non-emergent requests with an appointment for a later date.
• The PCMHI Social Worker makes the clinical decision to enroll Veterans in BHL telephone services for conditions warranting additional attention (e.g., depression monitoring, watchful waiting) and any of a number of dispositions within PC-MHI (e.g., brief therapy, referral management).
• The PCMHI Social Worker guides mental health care for referred Veterans to completion or until the Veteran is integrated into specialty mental health care (e.g., PTSD Clinic (PCT), Mental Health Clinic (MHC), Chemical Dependency Center (CDC).
• The PCMHI Social Worker provides education appropriate to patients with mental health or behavioral health concerns, their family members, and significant others.
• The PCMHI Social Worker provides comprehensive, evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions (EBP) appropriate to patients with mental health concerns or disorders, including individual, family, and group psychotherapy (e.g., Motivational Interviewing (Ml) and Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), etc.) as indicated.
• The PCMHI Social Worker provides consultation to PACT staff, other care providers within The VA Medical Center at Memphis, CBOCs, and to community providers, concerning clinical assessment findings and appropriate treatment plans for patients.
• The PCMHI Social Worker functions independently as a member of the Memphis VA Medical Center or CBOC Staff, with full clinical privileges and assumes complete professional responsibility for his/her clinical assessment findings, patient care decisions, and documentation.
• Independently evaluates the client's situation, including the veteran's reaction to it and ability to deal with it, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion. Based on the psychosocial assessment, uses professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis.
• Is responsible for clinical social work practice in the area or program to which assigned, including promotion of social work services as a key component of treatment. Evaluates his/her practice as an experienced social worker on an ongoing basis through participation in professional peer review, case conferences, research studies or other organized means. Is active in and accepts responsibility for the development and maintenance of professional standards of treatment.
• Organizes community services on behalf of beneficiaries, developing and coordinating procedures for use of these services by related staff. Develops working relationships with other organizations having responsibilities for the same patient population. Develops and maintains a productive network of referral sources.
• Adheres to operational policies and procedures for the PACT established by the PACT Medical Director and/or Ambulatory Care Director.
• Assists PCMHI and PACT in the execution of ongoing program evaluation and data-driven quality improvement projects to monitor the effectiveness of the clinical program.
• Provides clinical supervision and instruction for interns and post-doctoral fellows in areas related to behavioral health and social services provision to attain goals and objectives of mental health recovery programs, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills.
• Provides teaching on selected mental health topics to community organizations, provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff.
• Additional duties as assigned.

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.

• 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.

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.
• 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 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/.

• 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 Requirement: You must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, and 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.
• Assignments. For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level. Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as but not limited to: Polytrauma Rehabilitation Center or Polytrauma Network Site; a Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Center, or a national VHA referral center, such as a national Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder or a national Transplant Center, or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity. The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for 10 clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns. Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics. The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to Veterans, ensures equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, ensures the care provided is of the highest quality. The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff. They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor, Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services. This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation

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.

Your experience must be fully documented on your resume and must include job title, duties, month and year start/end dates AND hours worked per week. A full year of work is considered to be 35-40 hours of work per week. Part-time experience will be credited on the basis of time actually spent in appropriate activities. Applicants wishing to receive credit for such experience must indicate clearly the nature of their duties and responsibilities in each position and the number of hours a week spent in such 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.