Senior Social Worker (Domicile-Substance Use Disorder)

Senior Social Worker, DOM-SUD will provide clinical social work services as part of an interdisciplinary treatment team in the domicile, Las Vegas VA Residential Recovery & Renewal Center (LVR3). Must have clinical knowledge of substance use disorders and gambling addiction. They will work with residents of the domicile in order to improve independent living skills and address issues and conditions which interfere with effective community integration.

Qualifications:

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: 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). Grandfathering Provision: The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title 38 hybrid qualification standards. Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation.

• 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.

NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS-0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection. If they choose to return at a later date to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker.

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. 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/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.

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

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.

Preferred Experience: Substance Use Treatment; Mental Health Patient Treatment; Dual-Diagnosis Treatment

References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard, GS-0185, Veterans Health Administration, dated September 10, 2019.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position involve primarily walking, sitting, talking, use of fingers, both hands required, Near vision correctable at 13" to 16" to Jaeger 1 to 4, Far vision correctable in one eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other, Hearing (aid permitted).

Responsibilities:

Work Schedule: Tour of duty to be established upon selection
Telework: Not available
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

Senior Social Worker, DOM-SUD is aware of and adheres to all current directives of Veterans Health Administration (VHA), meets current Joint Commission and Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities (CARF) standards, state licensure standards, and VA-OIG expectations. They serve as a contact for other disciplines within VASNHS, providing clinical services and case management-based services as needed (directly or through referral) necessary to ensure Veteran care is coordinated within VASNHS, with community health or mental health providers, and with other agencies as needed.

Duties of the position include, but are not limited to:

• Independently work with Veterans and their families who are experiencing a wide range of complicated medical, psychiatric, emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial problems.
• Must independently complete thorough psychosocial assessments to determine the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and/or their families.
• Utilize this assessment in facilitating the Veteran's maximum use of treatment for attainment of the highest level of independence that is possible and practicable.
• Possess skills and knowledge to provide case management services to Veterans and their families throughout the continuum of care.
• Appropriately utilize principles of human growth and development over the life span and will be able to assist Veterans in coping with the loss and grief experiences from disability and terminal illness.
• Independently identifies high-risk patients and provides appropriate level of case management services.
• Provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences and serves as liaison to family members.
• Possesses working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures; this includes acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology.
• Provides a full range of therapeutic interventions for Veterans hospitalized on the domicile, including individual and group psychotherapy, use of evidence-based interventions, family/couples therapy, psychoeducation, case/care management, and referrals as appropriate.
• Independently provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to domicile treatment plan.
• Ability to evaluate incumbent's own practice through professional peer review, case conferences and other organizational means.
• Communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with people from varied backgrounds.
• Performs specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness.
• Incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
• When applicable, Senior Social Worker may participate in a rotation of weekend duty social workers, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on weekends or holidays.
• Participates fully in peer review, assessing the quality of professional social work practice standards provided in the organization.
• Fully accountable for practice, including Veteran visits, measuring outcomes to interventions, and meeting productivity standards.
• Responsible for identification of patient problems requiring consultation with other multi-disciplinary medical center staff and making appropriate referrals.
• Serves as a consultant, liaison, and point of contact for programs within Behavioral Health Service, throughout the hospital, and within the community.
• May provide clinical supervision for social work licensure; may serve as Agency Field Instructor for social work graduate students enrolled in CSWE-accredited education programs as part of the VHA Associated Health Trainee Program.
• May be involved in the Social Work Service and Behavioral Health Service training programs, the training of social work interns, psychiatric residents, medical students, and nursing students, as appropriate.
• Other duties as assigned by management.

This is an OPEN CONTINUOUS ANNOUNCEMENT and may be posted up to September 30, 2024. The initial cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be November 24, 2024, with subsequent cut-off dates on the 1st and 15^th of each month. 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.