Senior Social Worker - Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC)

Summary

The Community Based Outpatient Clinic (CBOC) Senior Social Worker is assigned to a CBOC at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System. They are responsible for providing social work services for Veterans assigned to a Primary Care Provider in a specialty clinic or program - including psychosocial assessments - treatment planning - short-term - solution focused counseling with individuals and families who may be in crisis - education and referral for resources and benefits - and case management.

Qualifications

To qualify for this position - applicants must meet all requirements within 30 days of the closing date of this announcement.

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 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 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: 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
• Preferred Experience: Medical Social Work and Case Management Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit
• 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: Moderate lifting - 15-44 pounds
• Moderate carrying - 15-44 pounds
• Pushing - 6 hours
• Ability to distinguish basic colors
• Hearing (aid may be permitted)
• Environmental Factors: Outside and inside
• Working closely with others
• Working alone
• This is an Open and Continuous Announcement (OCA)- application cut offs will be every first and fourteenth day of each month until September 30 - 2026.

Duties

• Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional The CBOC Senior Social Worker is responsible for the implementation of program policies and procedures developed by the VAMC and by the Social Work service
• Treatment is based on coherent empirical and theoretical rationale and is consistent with patient rights
• Below are some of the job duties for the position: Conducts psychosocial assessments to determine needs of veterans and family members
• Participates in discharge planning with other disciplines and will be responsible for ensuring that discharge plans are executed in a manner that is timely and appropriate
• Provides individual - family and group counseling as appropriate
• Provides consultation/education to veterans and families on community resources - advance directives and VA benefits
• Provides consultation/education to medical teams and providers on social work practice and VA policy and procedures
• Acts as liaison between VA and community resources - to include marketing and public relation duties as needed Provides case management to veterans and families - as needed - throughout the continuum of care
• Provides a full range of social work services within commonly accepted standards of social work practice which includes case work - individual - family and group counseling - discharge planning - case management and other services as appropriate
• Addresses issues such as Advance Directives and organ donation in accordance with the standards of their work area
• Provides wellness/prevention education and facilitate patient/family support groups as appropriate
• Supervises the practice of social work students - or be a lead and mentor for less experienced social workers
• Coordinates treatment and communicate with the care lines to facilitate continuity of care for veterans
• Assists patients and their significant others with coping and dealing with loss and grief experiences in disability - terminal illness and death
• Documents social work interventions and activities which will include in patient's clinical record utilizing CPRS and/or Report of Contacts
• Works independently with Veterans and their caregivers in a community setting
• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8am - 4:30pm Compressed Schedule: Available Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases When setting pay - a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade)
• 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: Not Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position
• Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

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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.

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