Summary

The Fargo VA Health Care System is recruiting for 1 full-time Mental Health Professional for the Recovery Services Program. This position will be filled by a Supervisory Social Worker, Licensed Professional Mental Health Counselor (Program Manager), or a Psychology Program Manager.

Duties

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VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU

The VA Midwest Health Care Network advocates for a Whole Health System of care in each of the Medical Centers. This is an approach to healthcare that empowers and equips people to take charge of their health and well-being and live their lives to the fullest. As an employee operating in a Whole Health System of care, you will operate in a model with three core elements, seeking to create a personalized health plan for each Veteran. This is done in the context of healing relationships and healing environments and a connection back to the Veteran's community. This aligns with the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) Mission Statement to Honor America's Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being.

The incumbent serves as the Mental Health Recovery Services Supervisor, within the Mental Health Integrated Clinical Community (MH ICC), within the Fargo VA Health Care System (HCS). The Fargo VA HCS provides a state-of-the-art continuum of clinical services and education to veterans with complex needs in a large, highly rural catchment area.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

Administrative Responsibilities (75% of time)

• The incumbent is the subject matter expert (SME) and independently prepares data and statistical reports, operational plans, inspections and strategic plans to facility, VISN and national leadership. The individual is responsible for quality and performance improvement initiatives for assigned mental health programs within the Mental Health ICC and/or the facility, VISN, or national program. Independent judgement is utilized to adjust staffing levels, productivity, and work procedures within the organizational unit(s) to accommodate resource allocation decisions made at higher echelons.
• The incumbent supervises a group of employees from multiple professions, performing work at multiple GS grade levels (GS-5 - GS-13) and provides administrative and technical supervision necessary for accomplishing the work of the programs providing all orientation and program training to new staff and generally throughout the facility as needed. The individual exercises supervisory authorities and responsibilities involving work assignment and performs the administrative and personnel management functions relative to assigned mental health programs.
• The incumbent is the SME to VA Facility leadership and staff for assigned Mental Health related programs and serves as a consultant to other VA professionals and administrators on program specific activities. The incumbent works with a wide variety of stakeholders (e.g., Veterans, family members, state and community agencies, Veterans Service Organizations (VSOs), military support programs, and community agencies.
• The incumbent manages Mental Health Program clinical and business operations, accountability for program effectiveness. The incumbent supports customer satisfaction, well-being and service delivery. The incumbent address Congressional inquiries, VISN and VA Central Office action items as requested. The incumbent develops a data-driven continuous quality improvement program with established goals and outcomes to evaluate and documents the program's effectiveness.
• The incumbent plans, organizes and coordinates operational, clinical and personnel activities for the Mental Health Programs he/she manage.
  
  

Clinical Responsibilities: (25% of time)

• Provides a full range of clinical services to include diagnosis and treatment of evidence-based mental disorders.
• Provides education to patients, family members, and significant others.
• Provides comprehensive, evidence-based psychotherapeutic interventions, including individual and group psychotherapy.
  
  

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized

Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases

Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)

Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.

Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.

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)

Telework: Available (Ad-hoc)

Virtual: This is not a virtual position.

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized

Requirements

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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).
• A valid driver's license is required.
  
  

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.
• 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.
• 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).

Grade Determinations:

GS-13 Supervisory Social Worker

Experience/Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level, which is defined as: Independently organizing work, setting priorities, and meeting multiple deadlines; Working knowledge of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement; Ensuring provision of clinical social work services; Providing staff training and development; demonstrated skill in interpersonal relationships in dealing with employees, team leaders, and managers.

Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment. Candidate 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.

Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as supervisory social workers must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

• Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines.
• Skill in a range of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement.
• Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services by supervised social workers.
• Ability to delegate authority, manage priorities, coordinate work, and follow up on pending issues to complete duties in an accurate and timely fashion.
• Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems, develop and implement solutions that result in efficient operations, and use data effectively to manage workload, quality, performance, and productivity within the service.
• Ability to provide staff training and development.
  
  

All qualifying experience you possess must be clearly described in your application package. We will not make assumptions when reviewing applications. Failure to demonstrate your experience in your resume may result in disqualification. It is strongly recommended that you write to each KSA in your application package.

Assignment. 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. Supervisory social workers at the GS-13 grade level typically supervise professional and non-professional staff. They are responsible for the professional and administrative management of an area in a social work service, in a care/product line, or across multiple sites, (e.g., multi-division facilities and CBOCs). Incumbent may also provide direct clinical services.



Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.



The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-13. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-13.



Physical Requirements: You will be asked to participate in a pre-employment examination or evaluation as part of the pre-employment process for this position. Questions about physical demands or environmental factors may be addressed at the time of evaluation or examination.

Education


IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application.



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

This is an OPEN CONTINOUS ANNOUNCEMENT. Qualified applications will be referred every two weeks from the opening date of this announcement until the closing date, or until the position is filled, whichever is sooner.

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.

Candidates should be committed to improving the efficiency of the Federal government, passionate about the ideals of our American republic, and committed to upholding the rule of law and the United States Constitution.

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