CAREER CENTER

There is one position available. The Senior Social Worker's duty location will either be Fairview, Oregon or The Dalles, Oregon, providing mental health treatment to Veterans served by the Loren R. Kaufman VA Clinic in The Dalles, OR. Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met. Failure to Obtain License or Certification. In all cases, social workers must actively pursue meeting state prerequisites for licensure or certification starting from the date of their appointment. Failure to become licensed or certified within the prescribed amount of time will result in removal from the GS-0185 social worker series and may result in termination of employment. 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 (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 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. Grade Determinations, GS-12: Licensure - Licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level. Experience - Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. At least two years should be in an area of specialized social work practice. May have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience. Advanced Practice Level. Advanced Practice Level is defined as the ability to provide independent and expert clinical psychosocial and case management services in a specialized area of practice to veterans who tend to have serious and severe crises, may lack any familial and community support, may be poor self-monitors, may frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or may have major deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychological support. The advanced practice Social Worker has an increased depth and breadth of practice skills; has expertise in participating in the professional development of colleagues through mentorship and teaching; demonstrates leadership in developing and expanding professional intervention strategies; demonstrates leadership in defining and attending to professional practice issues; and has the ability to expand the conceptual knowledge of the profession. The advanced practice Social Worker will make independent professional decisions and recommendations for agency action; the consequences to the veteran of these decisions and actions may be quite serious. Work involves intensive social work services requiring the exercise of mature professional judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of complex social work practice skills not typically required in routine social work interventions. The advanced practice Social Worker has mastered a range of specialized interventions and provides consultation to colleagues, renders professional opinions based on experience and expertise, develops new models of psychosocial assessment or intervention, and incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment. The advanced practice Social Worker utilizes outcome evaluations to further treatment and designs system changes based on empirical findings. Differentiating Full Performance Level from Advanced Practice Level. This is done based on the differences between independent practice, which is required for all VHA social workers, and advanced practice. A social worker practicing at the independent level has a generalized knowledge of practice, whereas the social worker practicing at the advanced level has specialized knowledge of practice typically related to a particular diagnosis or patient population. The advanced practice social worker can be further differentiated from the independent practice social worker by his/her ability to expand clinical knowledge in the profession, provide consultation and guidance to colleagues, role model effective social work practice skills, teach or provide orientation to less experienced social workers, develop innovations in practice interventions, and provide clinical supervision for social work licensure or certification. A social worker with advanced practice skills and personal qualifications that meet the standard for the Senior Social Worker will have passed an advanced generalist or clinical ASWB examination and be assigned to a position that requires use of the advanced practice skills in order to be considered for the senior social worker grade. In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the professional KSAs in the paragraph below. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities: (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. References: VA Handbook 5005/50 Part II Appendix G39 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. Selectee will be appointed at the GS-12 level. Physical Requirements: Light carrying (under 15 pounds); Use of fingers; Walking & Standing (1-2 hours); Operation of a motor vehicle; Both eyes required; depth perception; Ability to distinguish basic colors & shades of colors; Emotional and Mental stability; Hearing (aid permitted); work with psychiatric patients with behavioral problems; work with patients with drug and alcohol problems. Environmental factors include dust, fumes, exposure to pet dander & overhead light; working alone & with others, overhead light, scents from various homes and individuals; exposure to shared office space that requires ability to focus with some distraction. ["VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU The VA Portland Health Care System (VAPORHCS) is a Complexity Level 1a Facility and provides extensive primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary care in outpatient, inpatient, residential, and community settings. VAPORHCS is a multi-site medical system that includes a major medical facility in Portland, Oregon; outpatient and residential facilities in Vancouver, Washington; and 10 Community Based Outpatient Clinics. VAPORHCS is an academic medical facility with significant teaching and research programs. The CBOC GS-12 Senior Social Worker provides mental health treatment at a VAPORHCS remote satellite outpatient clinic in The Dalles OR. The Senior Social Worker will utilize advanced knowledge and mastery of psychotherapy and case management to provide time-limited mental health services to the Veteran population enrolled at VAPORHCS and treated at the satellite clinic. Clinical services include provision of high-quality individual and group psychotherapy, psychosocial assessment, advocacy, and coordination of linkages to other appropriate VA or community service providers/agencies as needed by the Veteran. This is accomplished in collaboration with other members of the Mental Health Division or other interdisciplinary treatment teams as appropriate. Additionally, telemental health (TMH) and the use of clinical video teleconferencing (CVT) approaches may be used to provide clinical care. Major duties will include but will not be limited to: Screening/Assessment - The Senior Social Worker will use advanced knowledge and mastery of theories of mental illness and specialized treatment to develop a diagnosis and treatment plan. The goal of the diagnosis and treatment plan is to highlight the Veteran's strengths, limitations, and internal/external supports and service needs in order to optimize the Veteran's functional status. The biopsychosocial assessment will include clinical interview, administration of psychiatric assessment instruments, and/or collateral information. Based on the biopsychosocial assessment, the mental health Senior Social Worker uses professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a multiaxial diagnosis assessment using the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The Senior Social Worker provides goal planning, evaluation, and intervention with serious and complicated, highly diverse cases involving substance abuse and psychiatric illness. The Senior Social Worker demonstrates an understanding of current and advanced techniques to the treatment of this Veteran population related to their physical limitations, psychological needs, psychiatric conditions, environmental needs and age associated illnesses and conditions. Treatment Planning/Goal Setting - Utilizing advanced knowledge and mastery, the Senior Social Worker will develop or contribute to the development of the mental health treatment plan, setting achievable treatment goals with the Veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team. The Senior Social Worker provides independent consultation and makes recommendations to the interdisciplinary team on course of treatment. Documentation/Productivity - The Senior Social Worker will complete documentation in compliance with appropriate documentation standards. The Senior Social Worker consistently maintains an acceptable level of productivity per guidelines which may include special assignments. Referral to Service Providers - Throughout the course of treatment the Senior Social Worker is the specialist on VA and/or community resources. The Senior Social Worker will collaborate with other service providers in reassessing the Veteran's needs. The Senior Social Worker is responsible for educating the Veteran and/or caregiver of the available services and assisting them with appropriate referrals based on the Veteran's preference or that of his surrogate decision-maker related to mental health issues, or the team's evaluation. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday, 0800-1630 Telework: Ad hoc Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required"]

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