The mission of Intensive Community Mental Health Recovery (ICMHR)/Mental Health intensive Care Management (MHICM) services is to provide Veterans with a serious mental illness with intensive recovery-oriented mental health services that enable them both to live meaningful lives and in the community of their choosing. This program falls within the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Section of the Mental Health Services Care Line. 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 3 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: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met: Experience/Education. The candidate must have at least two years of experience 8 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: (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. Preferred Experience: Experience working with people living with serious mental illness and working on community-based program/interdisciplinary teams, specifically Assertive Community (ACT) Treatment Model or shared case load experience. Experience assessing for crisis evaluations. 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-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-12. Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor, as the position requires sitting, standing, and walking. Some travel is required as the incumbent is required to conducted monthly active outreach in the community which may require traveling long distances. The emotional demands can be stressful in working with high-risk for suicide veteran population and their families. A high level of self-awareness is essential. Work, divided between office and clinical settings, is primarily sedentary. May require prolonged standing, moderate walking, and manual dexterity. Requires carrying light items, such as books, files, or laptop computer. ["The incumbent is responsible for completing the following duties/responsibilities: a. The incumbent will conduct psychosocial assessments to determine needs of veterans and family members. b. The incumbent is an active participant in the treatment planning process with other disciplines. The incumbent will provide measurement-based care. c. The incumbent will provide appropriate services-based Veterans' needs, acuity level, and preferences for care. Veterans will be reassessed on a regular basis, no less than quarterly and in accordance with local policy, for changes in their needs, acuity level, and preferences for care. d. The incumbent will utilize psychosocial rehabilitation and recovery practices and other evidence-based practice models to promote Veteran engagement and self-efficacy. e. The incumbent will participate in discharge planning with other disciplines as appropriate and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely and appropriate. f. The incumbent will provide individual, family and group education and counseling as appropriate. g. The incumbent will provide consultation/education to veterans and families on community resources, advance directives and VA benefits. h. The incumbent will act as a consultant to other team/staff members. . The incumbent will act as liaison between VA and community resources, to include marketing and public relation duties as needed. j. The incumbent will provide case management to veterans and families, as needed, throughout the continuum of care. k. The incumbent will provide a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice and with clinical supervision, which includes case work, individual, family and group counseling, discharge planning, case management and other services as appropriate. . The incumbent will address Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of their work area. m. The incumbent will provide wellness/prevention education and facilitate Patient/family support groups as appropriate. n. The incumbent will coordinate treatment and communicate with the care lines to facilitate continuity of care for veterans. o. The incumbent will participate in committee assignments, as deemed necessary by the service manager. p. The incumbent will maintain data and statistical compilations to comply with JC, CARF, VA and medical center policy and procedures. q. The incumbent will assist patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with the loss and grief experiences in disability, terminal illness and death. r. The incumbent will document social work interventions and activities inpatient's clinical record utilizing CPRS and ensure appropriate hand off when transferring of patient care. s. The incumbent will participate in a rotation of on-call social workers, including modification of tour of duty to accommodate patient care needs on weekends. t. The incumbent will maintain familiarity and responsibility for all performance measures relating to the ICMHR/MHICM Program. u. Performs other related duties as assigned. Work Schedule: Monday-Friday 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Telework: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Functional Statement #: 554-52280-A Recruitment Incentives: Authorized Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized"]
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,321 health care facilities, including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,138 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics) to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of our medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision care. Some medical centers also offer advanced services such as organ transplants and plastic surgery.