Summary

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific eligibility requirements per VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) & eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after review of the EDRP application. Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply.

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Duties

Major duties include but not limited to:

• Collaborate with other service providers in assessing the Veteran's needs as appropriate.
• Work closely and coordinate with other PACT Social Workers in the health care system along with providing consultation and education to VA staff and community-based service providers including medical residents and social work students.
• Educate Veterans and/or caregiver of the available services and assisting them in establishing the appropriate referrals based on the Veteran's preference or that of their authorized surrogate decision-maker.
• Act as a care coordinator and case manager for psychosocial concerns related to psychosocial determinants of health for Veterans assigned to their panel.
• Conduct psychosocial assessments in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the Veteran patient, family members and significant others; interviewing Veterans and family members/significant others and writing the psychosocial assessment.
• Ensure biopsychosocial assessments highlight Veterans' strengths, limitations, and internal/external supports and service needs to optimize their functional status.
• Assess and treat the complicated psychosocial and behavioral health problems of Veterans, caregivers and their families/significant others.
• Be aware of resources, services, and programs within the VA and the local community that can assist with meeting the psychosocial and behavioral health needs of Veterans and/or caregivers.
• Understand the intimidation of bureaucracy and will act as an advocate within the VA system when it serves the best interest of the Veteran/caregiver.
• Educate and encourage the Veteran/caregiver to advocate on their own behalf, thus fostering a sense of independence and empowerment, when appropriate and feasible.
• Complete comprehensive psychosocial assessments for patients to help determine what psychosocial and mental health services are needed and make appropriate referrals as outlined by medical center policy.
• Develop treatment plans in collaboration with the Veteran/family/caregiver, interdisciplinary treatment team, and appropriate community partners. Incumbent provides psychosocial interventions and measures outcomes to interventions.
• Provide therapeutic services to individuals, families, and groups covering a wide variety of psychosocial issues.
• Work closely with Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) clinicians to facilitate assessments and referrals and will defer to specialty Mental Health psychotherapists when brief psychotherapy is not clinically indicated or when it is more clinically appropriate to refer to specialty Mental Health psychotherapists.
• Conduct psychosocial and behavioral health assessments in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the Veteran, family members and significant others.
• Utilize a range of psychoeducation and psychotherapeutic treatment options based on Veteran needs and clinical appropriateness to address issues related to physical limitations, psychological needs and age-associated illnesses and conditions.
• Identify problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills and needed assistance.
• Provide psychosocial support to Veterans with highly complex health and/or mental health problems and the provision of short-term, solution focused counseling with Veterans and/or their families.
• Make rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for Veterans when needed. In the event of a medical or psychiatric emergency, the PACT Social Worker will follow the protocol of VASNHCS or corresponding CBOC.
• Work in conjunction with the PCMHI staff or other Mental Health staff to ensure a warm handoff where appropriate in the event of a requested admission to mental health inpatient programs.
• Collect, develop, and analyze data, in coordination with the Ambulatory Care Work Supervisor, using appropriate clinical indicators and monitoring activities to assure that the care provided is of the highest quality.
• Triage and collaborate on any customer service complaints within PACT Social Work to ensure a timely and professional response to any patient advocate requests or customer service follow-up needs.
• Work in conjunction with the Ambulatory Care Social Work Supervisor to ensure that psychosocial, mental health and social work services are provided appropriately to all primary care patients throughout the healthcare system.
• Coordinate and implement trainings and educational opportunities related to the job duties and competencies for a PACT Social Worker.
• Review competencies of PACT Social Workers as directed by the Ambulatory Care Social Work Supervisor.
  
  
  
  

Work Schedule: 8:00am - 4:30pm Monday - Friday

Telework: This position is eligible for telework on an Ad- Hoc Basis

EDRP Authorized: Contact V21CCOEEDRP@VA.GOV, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more



Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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Requirements

Conditions of Employment

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a trial period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued dentification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
  
  

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

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  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 http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.
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  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).
  
  

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria). Grandfathering Provision: The following is the standard grandfathering policy for all title 38 hybrid qualification standards. Please carefully review the qualification standard to determine the specific education and/or licensure/certification/registration requirements that apply to this occupation.

• All persons employed in VHA in this occupation on the effective date of this qualification standard are considered to have met all qualification requirements for the title, series and grade held, including positive education and licensure or certification that are part of the basic requirements of the occupation. For employees who do not meet all of the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed to it, the following provisions apply:
• Such employees in an occupation that requires a licensure or certification, may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level, or changed to lower grade within the occupation, but may not be promoted beyond the journey level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
• Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed, on a temporary or permanent basis, until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
• Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation, who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all of the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.
• If an employee who was retained in an occupation listed in 38 U.S.C. 7401(3) under this provision leaves that occupation, the employee loses protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of reentry to the occupation.
  
  
  
  

NOTE: If social workers covered under the grandfathering provision of the 1991 Federal law regarding licensure or certification of VHA social workers leave the GS-0185 social work series, they lose the grandfathering protection. If they choose to return at a later date to the GS-0185 series, they must be licensed or certified to qualify for employment as a social worker.


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.
  
  

References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard, GS-0185, Veterans Health Administration, dated September 10, 2019.

Driver's License: Candidate must have a current state issued driver's license.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12.



Physical Requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019 Employee Occupational Health Service

Education



Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed.

During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.

This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.

This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.

VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority.

If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement.

Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.

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• Help A career with the U.S. government provides employees with a comprehensive benefits package. As a federal employee, you and your family will have access to a range of benefits that are designed to make your federal career very rewarding. Opens in a new windowLearn more about federal benefits.
  
  

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Eligibility for benefits depends on the type of position you hold and whether your position is full-time, part-time or intermittent. Contact the hiring agency for more information on the specific benefits offered.