Supervisory Social Worker

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 – Master’s degree in social work (MSW) from a school of social work fully accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE). 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/. 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: 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 or Senior 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 or Senior 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 or senior 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 or Senior 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. 1. In-depth knowledge of the program coordinated, and demonstrated knowledge and ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program. 2. Knowledge and skill in management/administration, which includes supervision, consultation, negotiation, and monitoring. 3. Ability to supervise multidisciplinary staff assigned to the program. 4. Ability to organize work, set priorities, meet multiple deadlines, and evaluate assigned program area(s). 5. Ability to provide training, orientation, consultation and guidance within clinical specialization of practice. GS-12 Social Worker Program Coordinators. Program coordinators at the GS-12 grade are administratively responsible for a clinical program providing treatment to patients in a major specialty, such as Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) coordinators, Visual Impairment Services Team (VIST) coordinators, Homeless Veterans Program (HVP) coordinators, Community Nursing Home Program (CNHP) coordinators. They may be the sole practitioner in this specialty at the facility and typically provide direct patient care services in the program area. They manage the daily operation of the program, develop policies and procedures for program operation, and prepare reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use. They may be responsible for the program’s budget. Preferred Experience: 2 years post LCSW with supervisory experience. References: VA Handbook 5005/50 Part II Appendix G39 The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. You may need to be boarded at that grade if not already a GS-12 Social Worker. 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.
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.