Senior Social Worker - Trauma Recovery Program

Summary

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.

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:
  Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).
• 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.
• 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. 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:
  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.
• Examples of creditable experience include but are not limited to independently assessing psychosocial functioning, facilitating treatment plans with interdisciplinary teams, providing case management and care coordination, linking patients with services, resources and opportunities, conducting assessments of at‑risk patients to identify immediate needs, providing interventions independently for patients and families/caregivers, offering a range of interventions and treatment modalities, and consulting with staff about psychosocial needs of patients.
  
  Resume must include hours per week for work‑experience credit.
• Licensure/Certification:
  Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which includes 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.
• GS‑12 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…