Senior Social Worker- CDC- Chemical Dependency Center

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Memphis (TN); On-site; USD 75,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

EDRP eligibility

Relocation assistance

Competitive salary

Job summary

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in Memphis seeks a Senior Social Worker to provide comprehensive psychosocial assessments, diagnoses, and evidence‑based psychotherapies for veterans.

The role includes supervision of interns and coordination with the mental health team to ensure quality, accessible care. Applicants must hold a CSWE‑accredited MSW, be licensed for independent practice at an advanced level, and meet state licensure requirements.

Qualifications

• Master’s degree in social work from a CSWE-accredited school.
• Licensure/certification to independently practice social work at Advanced level.
• Citizenship: U.S. or eligible per VA policy.

Responsibilities

• Provide psychosocial assessments and psychiatric diagnoses for veterans.
• Deliver individual, family, and group psychotherapies.
• Provide clinical supervision to interns/post‑docs.
• Collaborate with treatment teams to coordinate care.

Skills

Advanced practice social work

Psychosocial assessment

Counseling skills

Education

Master’s degree in social work (CSWE-accredited)

Job description

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.

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 master 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/
• 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 requirement: You must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which includes an advanced generalist or clinical examination and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.
• Demonstrated knowledge‑skills‑and‑abilities (KSAs): 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 and to role‑model 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.
• Assignments:
• For all assignments above the full performance level – the higher‑level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity, and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25 % of the time.
• Senior social workers are licensed or certified to independently practice social work at an advanced level.
• Senior social workers typically practice in a major program area such as, but not limited to, polytrauma rehabilitation center or polytrauma network site.
• Spinal cord injury rehabilitation center or a national VHA referral center – such as a national center for post‑traumatic stress disorder or a national transplant center or other program areas of equivalent scope and complexity.
• The senior social worker may be assigned administrative responsibility for clinical program development and is accountable for clinical program effectiveness and modification of service patterns.
• Assignments include clinical settings where they have limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOCs or satellite outpatient clinics.
• The senior social worker collaborates with the other members of the treatment team in the provision of comprehensive health care services to veterans, ensures equity of access and benefits to this population and ensures the care provided is of the highest quality.
• The senior social worker provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in‑service training, staff development, and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff.
• They serve on committees, work groups, and task forces at the facility, VISN and national level, or in the community as deemed appropriate by the supervisor – social work executive or chief of social work services.
• This assignment is to be relatively few in number based on the size of the facility/service and applying sound position management.
• This assignment must represent substantial additional responsibility over and above that required at the full performance grade level and cannot be used as the full performance level of this occupation.
• Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
• Physical requirements: See VA Directive and Handbook 5019.

Duties

• VA Careers – Licensed Clinical Social Worker: https://youtube.com/embed/U_xC25QsN0w Total rewards of an allied health professional.
• Provides a full range of psychosocial assessment services and psychiatric diagnoses of mental disorders – particularly for complex or unusually difficult patients in a variety of treatment settings, including telemental health.
• Provides education to patients, family members, and significant others.
• Provides comprehensive, evidence‑based psychotherapeutic interventions, including individual, family, and group psychotherapy.
• In addition can also conduct advanced level psychosocial and/or case management.
• Provides clinical supervision to interns and post‑doctoral fellows in areas related to behavioral health and social services provision to attain goals and objectives of recovery programs.
• Role modeling effective social work practice skills.
• Provides consultation to professional staff within VA medical center at Memphis and to community providers concerning clinical assessment findings and appropriate treatment plans for patients.
• Develops, implements, and documents the psychotherapeutic treatment plan for an assigned caseload of patients, including prompt completion of clinical reminders.
• Functions independently at the VA Medical Center at Memphis and assumes complete professional responsibility for his/her clinical assessment findings, patient‑care decisions, and documentation.
• Independently evaluates the client’s situation, including the veteran’s reaction to it and ability to deal with it, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion.
• Based on psychosocial assessment, uses professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis.
• On an inpatient/outpatient basis – finds a suitable means of treatment to help veterans and/or significant others cope with stressful situations.
• Treatment is aimed at helping veterans find practical solutions to the problems.
• Is responsible for clinical social work practice in the area or program to which assigned, including promotion of social work services as a key component of treatment.
• Evaluates his/her practice as an experienced social worker on an ongoing basis through participation in professional peer review, case conferences, research studies, or other organized means.
• Facilitates liaisons with other medical center programs (e.g., homeless program, veterans justice outreach) to effectively coordinate services.
• Attends and participates in administrative and informational meetings held by the chief of mental health service, section chief of mental health social work and recovery programs, chief of social work service, and other meetings as assigned to participate.
• Coordinates with the telehealth coordinator and the mental health service TMH coordinator for the purpose of setting up TMH clinics, profiles, and operations for TMH services.
• Has the 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.
• Other duties as assigned.
• Work schedule: Monday – Friday 8:00 am – 4:30 pm.
• Recruitment incentive (sign‑on bonus): Not authorized.
• Permanent change of station (relocation assistance): May be authorized for highly qualified applicant.
• EDRP authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.
• Contact [e-mail] – the EDRP coordinator for questions/assistance.
• 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).
• Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual based on prior work experience or military service experience.
• 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 401(k) with up to 5 % in contributions by VA.
• 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.
• Functional statement #: 51081‑F.