This announcement is to fill vacancies at the Community Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOC) located in Palm Desert, CA and Murrieta, CA. The Senior Social Worker at the CBOCs works independently, often without onsite supervision and has experience in the use of health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures. The position requires knowledge of Veterans' benefits, services relating to special programs, service-connected compensation, and non-service-connected pension. 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: One year medical social work experience 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 is required, as is performing activities involving sitting, walking, and standing, bending and carrying such items as books, papers, and files. Sitting and/or standing for long periods of time will be required. Social worker might have to carry light items, such as documents, resources, pamphlets, phone or a tablet. Responsibilities require ability to walk through the hospital units, execute effective communication skills, and to be able to work behind a computer for an extended period of time. ["VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Major duties include, but are not limited to the following: Facilitates referrals based upon Veterans needs and eligibility Provides services to patients with a wide variety of complex medical, psychosocial and psychiatric symptoms Provides clinical services including, but not limited to, group and individual counseling related to their diagnoses, educating patients about Advance Directives, VA benefits and Medicare/MediCal insurance benefits Provides services to Veterans and their families onsite, at their assigned location, where they see in-person walk-ins and schedule appointments Performs specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness Incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of Veteran patients Performs case finding functions and outreach, identifying and screening patients for psychosocial needs Conducts psychosocial assessments and develops treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran/family and the interdisciplinary treatment team Coordinates community-based services, including information and referral for additional services from other VA programs, other government programs and community agency programs Identifies high-risk patients and provides 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 Establishes and maintains effective therapeutic relationships with Veterans and their families Provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of Veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plan Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in their area of practice, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services Teaches and mentors staff and students in their special area of practice and provides supervision for licensure or specialty certifications Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00 am to 4:30 pm\nCompressed/Flexible: May be available for highly qualified candidates\nTelework: 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"]