Career Center

Housing and Urban Development / VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) is an intensive case management program for chronically homeless Veterans aimed at providing psychosocial services to Veterans while residing in stable housing through HUD's Section 8 voucher system. The Senior Social Worker functions as a Team Leader and Case Manager for VALLHCS HUD-VASH program, coordinating case management services for Veterans receiving housing provided through HUD Section 8 housing vouchers. Basic Requirements Citizenship: Citizen of the United States. Licensure: Candidate 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. Education: Master's degree in social work (MSW) 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 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 master's degree in social work. Preferred Experience: Previous experience with homeless population. Grade Determinations: GS-12 Senior Social Worker Experience: In addition to the basic requirements, applicants 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. 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. 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 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. References: VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G39 - Social Worker Qualification Standard. Physical Requirements: Traveling throughout the medical center and the community is required, as is performing activities involving sitting, walking, and standing, bending and carrying such items as books, papers, and files. In carrying out responsibilities it may be necessary for the incumbent to travel into the community where he/she conducts interviews with the Veterans, their families, representatives of community health and welfare agencies and law enforcement agencies. The incumbent must possess current driver's license and drive a government vehicle in carrying out professional duties when deemed necessary. ["VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Major duties include, but are not limited to the following: Conducts psychosocial assessments to determine needs of Veterans and family members Actively participates in the treatment planning process with other disciplines Participates in discharge planning with other disciplines and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely and appropriate Provides individual, family and group counseling Consults/ Educates Veterans and families on community resources, advance directives and VA benefits Acts as a consultant to other team/staff members Liaises between VA and community resources, to include marketing and public relation duties as needed Provides case management to Veterans and families, as needed, throughout the continuum of care Provides a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice which includes case work, individual, family and group counseling, discharge planning, case management and other services Addresses Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of their work area Provides wellness/prevention education and facilitates Patient/family support groups Supervises the practice of social work students, or a less experienced social workers Coordinates treatment and communicates with the care lines to facilitate continuity of care for Veterans Participates in committee assignments, as deemed necessary by the service manager Maintains data and statistical compilations to comply with JC, CARF, VA and medical center policy and procedures Assists patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability, terminal illness and death Documents social work interventions and activities in patient's clinical record utilizing CPRS and ensure appropriate hand off when transferring of patient care Participates in a rotation of on-call social workers, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate outreach activities Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8 AM to 4:30 PM\nCompressed/Flexible: May be available for highly qualified candidates\nTelework: Not Available\nVirtual: This is not a virtual position.\nFunctional Statement #: 000000\nRelocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized\nPermanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized\nFinancial Disclosure Report: Not required"]