The Home Based Primary Care (HBPC) Senior Social Worker is an integral member of an interdisciplinary team providing primary social work care in the home to Veterans who are frail and housebound and who have functional impairments and unable to travel to clinic appointments. The Senior Social Worker plays a key role in the HBPC effort to stabilize these Veterans in their homes and to prevent unnecessary hospitalizations. The position is located onsite at the VA Long Beach HCS. 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 the CSWE website to verify that the Social Work degree meets the accreditation standards for a Master's 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. License documentation must be submitted with application. 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: 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: 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: Working with Geriatric patients and caregivers, working on an interdisciplinary team, working in the Field doing home visits. References: VA Handbook 5005/12, Part II, Appendix G39 Physical Requirements: Must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. Applicants must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the applicant or others. The SWPC requires use of federal vehicles for the delivery of community-based services. The SWPC must be medically cleared and trained before operating a federal vehicle, pursuant to VHA Directive 2008- 020. All Social Workers who are required to use federal vehicles for their duties are REQUIRED TO BE CERTIFIED as an Incidental Driver. The SWPC may require a history review and if pertinent issues, may need to submit to a physical to be certified as an Incidental Driver. VA's are required to have current employee's and new hires who operate government vehicles and/or transport Veterans participate in periodic examinations every three - four years. As part of the certification, Incidental Drivers are required to be evaluated or examined as determined by the Occupational Health Examiner. There are no specific required lab tests however, during the medical history taking exam, the Examiner is required to reasonably and adequately evaluate any condition before providing the medical clearance. The position requires walking throughout the Medical Center and clinics, community agencies/court rooms, standing for extended periods of time, and involves sitting at a computer and in counsel and consultation with Veterans and interdisciplinary teams. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; and repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers. ["VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU Review a sample Total Rewards package for a VA Social Worker: https://www.vacareers.va.gov/Home/PdfViewer?issuu=social_worker_-_total_reward_of_a_va_career_flyerhttps://www.vacareers.va.gov/Home/PdfViewer?issuu=total_reward_of_a_allied_health_professions_va_ca The Senior Social Worker provides with a range of social work services, including psychosocial assessment, work with families and caregivers, short term case management, discharge planning, advocacy and service coordination, and linkage with VA and non-VA community services. Job duties include: Provides annual psychosocial assessments, health screening, care planning in Veterans homes, in order to prevent or minimize problems that may interfere with the Veteran's ability to stay in the home. Educates interdisciplinary team members about general and individual psychosocial risk factors. Develops and implement psychosocial treatment plans. Assist with respite, placement and end of life resources & referrals as needed. Mobilizes resources in order to support the Veteran/Support System in the home. Assists Veterans in accessing appropriate VHA, VBA, and community resources to support their needs. Collaborates with the HBPC team and community agencies to facilitate compliance with treatment plans to achieve treatment outcomes. Experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans in the event of a medical or psychiatric incident. Provides the Veterans and their caregivers with supportive counseling addressing medical, cognitive and functional decline. Other duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 7:30am-4:00pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: As determined by management. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. This is not a remote position. Functional Statement #: 000000 Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized 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.
