Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. Note: Veterans' Preference is not applicable to this announcement.

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Supervisory Program Manager for the Substance Treatment and Recovery (STAR) program at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center. The STAR Supervisory Program Manager is responsible for developing policies and practices to meet the goals of the therapy program as well as monitors to meet the goals.

Duties:
Operation and Management of the General Outpatient Mental Health Clinic at the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, which includes the full responsibility for day-to-day management of the STAR Clinic (40% of time)

• Provide routine supervision, training, educational opportunities, and programmatic oversight.
• Responsible for strategic planning to ensure the provision of high-quality services to meet the needs of the Veterans being served.
• Responsible for planning and developing and implementing short- and long-term goals and objectives consistent with the program's strategic plan. Oversight of administrative and programmatic resources and deploy those resources in support of the program needs.
• Develop and implement programs, policies, and procedures to meet program goals, VHA policy and external accreditation requirements, and monitor outcomes using data driven quality assurance processes and implement strategies for improvement based on data analysis.
• Participate fully in peer review, assessing the quality of professional mental/behavioral health standards provided in the organization.
• Responsible for identification of patient problems requiring consultation with other multidisciplinary medical center staff and making appropriate referrals.
• Assures that appropriate referrals to specialty programs, including community resources, are accomplished. This may include ordering the following consults: Mental Health Service Programs, (i.e., Substance Abuse, PTSD, Mental Health Intensive Case Management, Compensated Work Therapy, Homeless, and Day Treatment) Vocational Rehabilitation, and Long-Term Care. Fully accountable for practice, including entering patient visits, appropriate clinical documentation, measuring outcomes to interventions, and meeting productivity standards.
• Timely completion of all program evaluations and documents required by the Medical Center, VISN and VACO, ensuring compliance with appropriate accrediting bodies such as Joint Commission.
• Performs other related duties as assigned.

Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:30pm
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 vhaedrpprogramsupport@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: Authorized (Ad-hoc)
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 58616F
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO): Not Authorized

Conditions of employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• 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.
• 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).
• 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:
The basic requirements for employment as a VHA social worker are prescribed by statute in 38 U.S.C. § 7402(b)(9), as amended by section 205 of Public Law 106-419, enacted November 1, 2000. To qualify for appointment as a social worker in VHA, all applicants must meet the following:

Citizenship.
Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with chapter 3, section A, paragraph 3g this part).

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/.

Failure to Obtain License or Certification.
In all cases, social workers must actively pursue meeting state prerequisites for licensure or certification starting from the date of their appointment. Failure to become licensed or certified within the prescribed amount of time will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment.

Loss of Licensure or Certification.
Once licensed or certified, social workers must maintain a full, valid, and unrestricted independent license or certification to remain qualified for employment. Loss of licensure or certification will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment.

English Language Proficiency.
Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f)

Grade Determinations:
In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Supervisory Social Worker, GS-13

Experience/Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience.

Licensure/Certification.
Individuals assigned as supervisory social workers must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.
In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

• Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines.
• Skill in a range of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement.
• Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services by supervised social workers.
• Ability to delegate authority, manage priorities, coordinate work, and follow up on pending issues to complete duties in an accurate and timely fashion.
• Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems, develop and implement solutions that result in efficient operations, and use data effectively to manage workload, quality, performance, and productivity within the service.
• Ability to provide staff training and development.

Assignment. 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. Supervisory social workers at the GS-13 grade level typically supervise professional and non-professional staff. They are responsible for the professional and administrative management of an area in a social work service, in a care/product line, or across multiple sites, (e.g., multi-division facilities and CBOCs). Incumbent may also provide direct clinical services.

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-13.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position involve primarily walking, sitting, talking, driving, use of the telephone, etc. Strenuous physical activity is not required although the incumbent is expected to withstand pressure and stress as part of their day-to-day activities. There is ongoing exposure to individuals having psychiatric and physical illness and disabilities. These include violent or aggressive behavior and chronic psychiatric and medical problems. Light lifting, under 15 pounds, Light carrying, under 15 pounds, Hearing (aid permitted).

How you will be evaluated

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

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above. Area Of Consideration- Eligible applicants will be reviewed and referred in the following order:
1. Facility
2. VA employees.
3. All other applicants.


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.