Supervisory Social Worker - Veteran's Justice Program

Summary

The Supervisory Social Worker for the Veteran's Justice Program (VJP) will split time between direct clinical care and the administrative tasks associated with program management and administrative and clinical supervision of staff.

Duties

Must have a high level of skill and expertise to establish and maintain effective therapeutic relationships with justice-involved Veterans. Social Worker is able to independently work with Veterans and their families who are experiencing a wide range of complicated medical, psychiatric, emotional, behavioral, and psychosocial problems and provide clinical care at an advanced practice license level. Completes comprehensive psychosocial assessments, including HOMES assessments. Advanced clinical training, insight and expertise is utilized to interpret assessment information and identify viable treatment options. The social worker assesses elevated risk factors, acuity, and the need for services. The social worker could assist Veterans who tend to have frequent and severe crises, lack family or an adequate community support network, be poor at self-monitoring, frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or have significant deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychosocial support. Posess skills and knowledge to provide ongoing case management services to justice-involved Veterans who are being monitored by treatment courts (and as needed for Veterans released from correctional institutions) by performing duties to facilitate independent community living by coordinating mental health and community care. Independently identifies high-risk patients and provides appropriate level of case management services. Provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as the presenting complaint. Social Worker provides linkage and referral to VA medical and mental health treatment and other VA services including VA benefits, community-based social services and other non-VA entitlement programs. This includes assisting Veterans with VA eligibility and enrollment and other VA forms and connecting them to the VBA as appropriate. Independently provides consultation services to other staff regarding the psychosocial needs of justice-involved veterans and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and adherence to treatment plan. Ability to evaluate incumbent's own practice through professional peer review, case conferences and other organizational means. Incumbent is able to communicate effectively, both orally and in writing, with people from varied backgrounds. Performs specialized treatment of complex physical or mental illness. Social Worker incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. Social Worker may provide individual and group therapy. Participates in the development of a treatment plan with Veterans. The treatment plan includes individualized goals and measurable objectives based on relevant psychological, medical, and psychiatric information. The Social worker is responsible for the assessment, identification, facilitation, referral and linkage to appropriate psychiatric services for Veterans identified as eligible for services. Additional duties and functions that fall under the umbrella of the position according to the Qualifications o fStandards. VA offers a comprehensive total rewards package: VA Nurse Total Rewards Pay: Competitive salary, regular salary increases, potential for performance awards Paid Time Off: 50 days of paid time off per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)Licensure: 1 full and unrestricted license from any US State or territory Work Schedule: TBD Telework: Not authorized Travel: Up to 50% may be required. Virtual: This is not a virtual position. EDRP Authorized: This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Learn more. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Qualifications

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. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), no person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. 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. Note: 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. Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work 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. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements stated above, the following qualification criteria must be met for each grade. The candidate's qualifications must clearly demonstrate the level of competence required for the grade. Experience: 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 and 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. 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 tre