Clarification from the agency

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The selected Senior Social Worker (CBOC) is responsible for providing community based psychosocial intervention to address a broad range of medical and mental health issues. The selectee serves veterans who tent to have serious, frequent and severe crises, lack family or adequate community support networks, frequently fails to comply with instructions and treatments, and have significant deficits in coping skills that require continuing psychosocial support. Some of the duties include, but are not limited to;

• Provides a continuum of care encompassing individual, group, counseling, demonstrating possession of advanced practice skills and judgment.
• Completes psychosocial assessments and collaborates with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the Veteran, family members and significant others.
• Interviews and conducts psychosocial assessments to establish veteran's treatment needs, presenting problems, and DSM V diagnoses.
• Provides a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice, which includes casework, measurement-based care, individual, family, and group counseling, discharge planning, case management and other services as appropriate.
• Independently provides psychosocial support to a special Veteran population with highly complex health and/or mental health needs through the provision of short term, solution focused counseling with Veterans and/or their families.
• Subject matter expert on VA and or community resources.
• Provides education related to VA and/or community resources, entitlements, Advance Directives/Living Wills, and will refer Veterans /families to the appropriate interdisciplinary team member for identified health education needs.
• Independently coordinates treatment and communicates with other social workers and community program coordinators to include NIC, CNH, M2VA, Behavioral Health Programs, Homeless Programs, and Suicide Prevention to facilitate continuity of care for Veterans.
• Treatment planning includes collaboration with interdisciplinary teams such as M2VA case manager, substance abuse staff, Psychiatry (inpatient/outpatient), Homeless Program, Physicians and Vet Centers.
• Acts as an advocate when appropriate and feasible while encouraging the veteran and family to advocate on their own behalf thus fostering a sense of independence and empowerment.
• Makes rapid assessments and develops crisis management plans for admission to mental health inpatient programs.
• Other duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: The primary tour of duty will be M-F 7:30am to 4pm. However, the selectee may also be required to work various shifts on a permanent or temporary basis, based on the needs of the service and patient care.
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: Not available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: Senior Social Worker CBOC, 82452F
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.
• You may be required to serve a trial period.
• 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).
• You must meet all qualification requirements within 30 days after the closing date of this announcement and before placement in the position.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement.

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: Must 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: 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/. (NOTE: For those who have a Florida LCSW license, you must be registered with the state as a "Qualified Supervisor" in order to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certification. All others must meet the requirements of their state of licensure to be able to provide supervision for licensure.) Applicants with Puerto Rico LSW must be an active member of the College of Social Work Professionals of Puerto Rico (CPTSPR) and must provide CPTSPR active membership certification. For additional information, please visit Membership - CPTSPR.
• English Language: Must be proficient in spoken and written English
• Driver's License: A current, valid state-issued Driver's License is required for this position. NOTE: We cannot accept photographs, therefore; please do not submit a copy of your license with your application package.

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). 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:

• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.

Grade Determinations: 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.
• 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.

Preferred Experience: Those candidates with experience in discharge planning, knowledgeable of Florida Baker Act, knowledge of VA Primary Care health setting, as well as knowledge of program and services provided in the community to assist Veterans with aging in place are highly preferred.

Reference: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39. For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements: The position requires performance of work which involves light physical effort, such as that involved in lifting light files, bending, standing, reaching, operating office equipment such as telephone, copier, fax machine, scanner, etc. The physical demands of the work requires use of fingers; moderate walking and standing; near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in on eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; hearing aid permitted; clear speech; emotional stability; moderate duty.
In addition, must meet occupational health requirements for driving physical to include approval to transport Veterans in a government vehicle.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities, (KSA's), you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position. Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training. Otherwise, we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim. The KSA's for this subject position are;

1. 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.
2. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

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.

Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order:

• Current permanent VA employees of the facility.
• All other VA employees.
• Current permanent Federal employees of other agencies.
• All other applicants.