Senior Social Worker

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Rocky Hill (CT); On-site; USD 80,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Connecticut seeks a Senior Social Worker (GS-12) to provide advanced psychosocial assessments, treatment planning, and clinical supervision.

Requirements include a CSWE-accredited MSW, state licensure to independently practice, and at least two years post-licensure experience (one year at GS-11). Eligible for the EDRP program per VA policy.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in social work from a CSWE-accredited program.
• Licensed or certified to independently practice social work at the master's level.
• Two years of experience post-advanced practice licensure; at least one year at the GS-11 level.
• Possess or be eligible for licensure/certification as a social worker.

Responsibilities

• Provide expert psychosocial assessment, treatment planning, and intervention.
• Deliver specialized interventions for diverse patient populations.
• Offer supervision for licensure and contribute to program policies and guidelines.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams to optimize patient care.

Skills

Specialized interventions

Differential diagnosis

Outcome evaluation

Clinical consultation

Policy development

Education

Master's degree in Social Work (CSWE-accredited)

Job description

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. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation.
• 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/.

Grade Determinations

GS-12 Senior Social Worker

• 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 must be able to provide supervision for licensure.
• Education and Experience. 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.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities.
  • 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.

Reference:

Social Worker Qualification Standard. For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

Physical Requirements:

The work does not inherently include physical requirements essential for successful job performance that could not otherwise be performed with a workplace accommodation.