Incumbent is responsible for providing services to Veterans referred to the Emergency Department/Medicine and Medicine Floor. The Senior Social Worker is responsible to provide a variety of services for Veterans referred from the Emergency Department/Medicine including psychosocial assessments, treatment planning, solution focused counseling with individuals and families who may be in crisis, education and referral for resources and benefits, case management and post-intervention follow-up. 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. Physical Requirements. See VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services. 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: 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. AND 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. AND Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. 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. 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. 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. This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation. Preferred Experience: Mental health experience References: VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Appendix G39 Physical Requirements: Position is sedentary in nature. ["The Senior social worker is assigned the Emergency Department and the Medical Floor with responsibility to provide direct mental health services for adult and geriatric Veterans and their families who present for services in this area. This position is responsible for providing services to Veterans referred to the Emergency Department/Medicine and Medicine Floor. This Senior Social Worker is responsible to provide a variety of services for Veterans referred from the Emergency Department/Medicine including psychosocial assessments, treatment planning, short-term, solution focused counseling with individuals and families who may be in crisis, education and referral for resources and benefits, case management and post-intervention follow-up. Responsibilities will also include consultation/education to Medical Center staff and service providers, the collection and maintenance of statistical data, program planning evaluation and modification, and the supervision of students as assigned. As a member of the Interdisciplinary Treatment Team in the Emergency Department/Medicine, the individual conducts work activity independently using his/her educational training, clinical experience, VA policies, and JCAHO standards in administering direct services: psychosocial assessment of patient/family needs in relation to the provision of interdisciplinary treatment planning and service delivery; individual, group, and family counseling and casework services for the purpose of addressing identified needs. The Senior Social Worker will collaborate with the other members of the Emergency Department/Medicine team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to veterans, will ensure equity of access, service, and benefits to this population, and collect, develop and analyze data from this program, using appropriate clinical indicators and monitoring activities to assure that the care provided is of the highest quality. The Social Worker will also complete periodic program planning evaluations and reviews, and will recommend and implement new programs and/or modifications/expansion of existing programs, as indicated. The Senior Social Worker will conduct training for staff, students and community providers regarding Emergency Department/Medicine issues, will provide education, information and liaison with resources for veterans in the community, and will provide technical assistance and educational sessions to community organizations as needed. This worker is responsible for the implementation of written treatment program policies and procedures developed by Mental Health that are based on coherent empirical and theoretical rationale and are consistent with patient rights, and the maintenance of comprehensive written patient progress notes, outcomes and discharge planning services in collaboration with the unit treatment team. Other duties and responsibilities may be assigned by the team/group leader as needed for the benefit of the veteran, family, and quality of services provided. The individual works in the Emergency Department/Medicine but may be required to work an irregular tour of duty, weekends, depending on the needs of the service and participate in social work coverage to the medical center between 4:30 p.m. and 8:00 a.m. Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 55563-O Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

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