Senior Social Worker - Suicide Prevention Coordinator
Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration
Application
Details
Posted: 14-Nov-23
Location: Fayetteville, Arkansas, Arkansas
Salary: Open
Categories:
Mental Health/Social Services
Internal Number: 738737800
This position serves as the Suicide Prevention Coordinator (SPC) for the Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks (VHSO). The SPC is organizationally aligned with Mental Health Service and provides Suicide Prevention services for the VHSO catchment area which includes the Fayetteville, AR campus and Community-Based Outpatient Clinics (CBOCs). The SPC is a member of the Suicide Prevention Team and works collaboratively in managing the daily operation of the Suicide Prevention Program (SPP). 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. English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). 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/. Grade Determinations: Senior Social Worker, GS-12 Experience and 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. Examples of creditable experience include but not limited to independently asses psychosocial functioning, facilitate treatment plan with interdisciplinary team using medical and mental health diagnoses knowledge, provide case management and care coordination, links patient with services, resources, and opportunities, conducts assessment of at-risk patient to identify immediate needs, provides interventions independently for patient and families/care giver, provide range of interventions and treatment modalities, and provide consultation to staff about psychosocial needs of patients. Resume must include hours per week for work experience credit. 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: (a) 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. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) 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. (d) 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. (e) 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. (KSAs must be clearly reflected in resume under description of duties in order to be found qualified for this position/grade level).Preferred Experience: Comfortable in providing Mental Health Care through Telehealth modalities Participation as a member of multi-disciplinary treatment team providing a full range of Mental Health Services. Skilled at multi-tasking, and working under the pressure of multiple responsibilities with deadlines. Excellent customer service skills (internal and external customers) References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard. The position is above full performance level of this vacancy (GS-12). Physical Requirements: Work is sedentary but also demands standing, walking, bending, twisting, and carrying light items. ["Current, permanent VA employees or Federal employees from another agency should apply using announcement: CBST-12057955-23-AC VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Include, but not limited to: Enhanced Care Delivery: The incumbent is responsible for ensuring that enhanced care and services, including intensified treatment, safety planning, and follow-up care for missed appointments, are provided for high-risk Veterans. The SPC collaborates with treating clinicians to assess risk and provide guidance about criteria for Patient Record Flags Category I - High Risk for Suicide (HRS-PRF) placements and ensures that high-risk Veterans are receiving appropriate care following their HRS-PRF placements. This may include making personal contact with identified high-risk Veterans (e.g., letters, face-to-face, telephone). Access and Referrals: The incumbent is responsible for responding to referrals from staff members, the Veterans Crisis Line (VCL), and other touch points to ensure that at-risk Veterans immediately receive care and services. The incumbent will respond to consults from the VCL within 1 business day of receipt and ensure consults are closed within 3 business days. Consult responses may include assisting Veterans with the enrollment process if they are new to VA, facilitating the resolution of the Veteran's needs identified in the consult and reassessing for any potential risk, and making consults to care team members as appropriate. Outreach and Awareness: The SPC performs mandated outreach and awareness activities as a member of the SPT to increase awareness of suicide prevention best practices and to improve the public's understanding and knowledge of suicide risk factors, military culture, lethal means safety and the accessibility of available resources, such as VCL. Outreach and Awareness activities include, but are not limited to, distributing promotional materials, engaging with stakeholders at event awareness tables, engaging with high-risk Veterans via the Caring Communication Program; and providing VA S.A.V.E. and other gatekeeper training to community members. Education and Training: The incumbent engages in educational activities including, but not limited to, dissemination of clinical practice guidelines, educational materials related to suicide prevention, training both clinical and nonclinical staff within VA to identify and respond to Veterans who are at increased risk for suicide and providing training to community organizations and staff who have contact with Veterans (e.g. local SPP procedures, suicide prevention topics such as crisis response, safety planning, postvention, suicide risk screening and evaluation). Program Administration: The incumbent will serve as a facility subject matter expert (SME) and point of contact (POC) for matters related to suicide, including prevention, intervention, postvention efforts, education and outreach, and suicide behavior and death reporting; collaborate with other SPCs and VA at-large to share best practices through multiple touch points; and accurately document services rendered to improve the SPP overall. Tracking and Reporting: The incumbent will ensure reporting mechanisms are implemented for all suicidal behaviors occurring within facility catchment areas; manage the Patient Record Flag Category 1 - High Risk for Suicide (HRS-PRF) process for all Veterans determined to be at a high risk for suicide; and review the nature of care provided using a combination of tracking and reporting tools The SPC will fulfill reporting responsibilities to ensure that information about facility programs and patients is accurately articulated to VA leadership. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm Telework: Available. Functional Statement #: 564-00674-F Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]
The Veterans Health Administration is America’s largest integrated health care system, providing care at 1,298 health care facilities, including 171 medical centers and 1,113 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics), serving 9 million enrolled Veterans each year.
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