Job description
Senior Social Worker (HUD/VASH)
DEPARTMENT OF VETERANS AFFAIRS
Veterans Health Administration
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. 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.
This job is open to
Federal employees - Competitive service
Current or former competitive service federal employees.
Federal employees - Excepted service
Current excepted service federal employees.
Internal to an agency
Current federal employees of this agency.
The public
U.S. Citizens, Nationals or those who owe allegiance to the U.S.
Duties
Location: San Francisco, CA
Salary: $105,589 - $137,266 per year
Pay Scale & Grade: GS-12
Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pm
Telework: This position may allow for some teleworking but the role requires reporting to duty station weekly.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 000000
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Authorized for highly qualified candidates.
EDRP Authorized: Contact [email protected], the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Financial Disclosure Report: Not required
The HUD-VASH program, a partnership between the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs, is an intensive case management program for chronically homeless Veterans aimed at providing psychosocial services to Veterans who acquire permanent housing through HUD's Section 8 voucher system.
This position functions as Case Manager for San Francisco VA Health Care System (SFVAHCS) HUD/VA Supportive Housing (HUD-VASH) Program. The incumbent is responsible for providing case management and other services for Veterans receiving housing through HUD Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. The incumbent is responsible for provision of clinical case management services for neighboring CBOCs and counties as assigned, examples including, but not limited to Santa Rosa/Napa, Mendocino/Lake, San Francisco/San Bruno and Oakland.
Duties of the position include, but are not limited to:
- Responsible for providing HUD-VASH case management, defined as the provision of services by VA clinical staff to homeless Veterans, including all activities to provide appropriate treatment and maintain Veterans in HUD-approved stable housing.
- Coordinates care including serving as an advocate on behalf of the Veterans to ensure comprehensive service delivery, linking and referring Veterans.
- Responsible for collecting and submitting HUD-VASH Program participant data as outlined by NEPEC evaluation procedures.
- Conducts psychosocial assessments to determine needs of Veterans and family members.
- Actively participates in the treatment planning process with other disciplines.
- Provides individual, family and group counseling as appropriate.
- Provides consultation/education to Veterans and families on community resources, advance directives and VA benefits.
- Acts as a consultant to other team/staff members.
- 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 include case work, individual, family and group counseling, discharge planning, case management and other services as appropriate.
- Addresses Advance Directives and Organ Donation in accordance with the standards of the work area.
- Provides wellness/prevention education and facilitates patient/family support groups as appropriate.
- As appropriate, supervises the practice of social work students or less experienced social workers.
- Coordinates treatment and communicates with VA staff in other departments to facilitate continuity of care for Veterans.
- Participates in committee assignments, as deemed necessary by the service manager.
- Maintains data and statistical compilations to comply with NEPEC, JC, CARF, VA and medical center policy and procedures.
- Documents social work interventions and activities in patients' clinical records, utilizing CPRS, and ensures appropriate hand-off when transferring patient care.
- Maintains familiarity and responsibility for all performance monitors and measures relating to the HUD-VASH Program.
- Perform specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient population, such as complex physical and/or mental illness at an advanced practice level.
- Provide individual, group, and family psychotherapy and advanced level case management interventions used in the treatment of Veterans with polytrama injuries, spinal cord injuries, traumatic brain injuries, visual impairment, post-traumatic stress disorder, addictions, and other serious disorders.
- Develop and implement methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in specialty areas, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services.
- Provide consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in specialty areas, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills.
- Teach and mentor staff and students in the special area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications.
- Must have and maintain a valid unrestricted driver's license.
- Other duties as assigned by management.
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 probationary period.
- Subject to background/security investigation.
- Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
- Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
- Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
- Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details.
- Must have a valid drivers license.
Qualifications
Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.
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). 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:
1. 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.
2. Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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, Part II, Appendix G39
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. A valid driver's license is required, as the incumbent will be working primarily in the community.
Education
IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on 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: http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ous/international/usnei/us/edlite-visitus-forrecog.html.
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.
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.
Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinatedagainst COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process.
If you are unable to apply online or need to fax a document you do not have in electronic form, view the following link for information regarding an Alternate Application.
Job Type: Full-time
Pay: $105,589.00 - $137,266.00 per year
Benefits:
- 401(k)
- Dental insurance
- Health insurance
- Life insurance
- Paid time off
- Retirement plan
- Vision insurance
Schedule:
- 8 hour shift
- Day shift
- Monday to Friday
Ability to commute/relocate:
- San Francisco, CA 94107: Reliably commute or planning to relocate before starting work (Required)
Application Question(s):
- Must be a U.S. Citizen
Experience:
- Social work: 1 year (Required)
Work Location: In person
About VA Mountain View Center
Revenue: Unknown / Non-Applicable
Size: 1 to 50 Employees
Type: Company - Public