Senior Social Worker - Substance Use Disorder

US-Department-of-Veterans-Affair; Jacksonville (FL); On-site; USD 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Job summary

Department of Veterans Affairs seeks a Senior Social Worker (GS-0185) to provide advanced social work services within specialty treatment programs. The role requires mastery in individual, group, and family interventions, together with clinical supervision and policy guidance. Licensure and CSWE-accredited education are mandatory.

Applicants should have demonstrated expertise in psychosocial assessment, treatment planning, and program evaluation to support Veterans' care across settings.

Qualifications

• Experience with counseling or psychotherapy and case management.
• Ability to apply advanced clinical skills in specialty settings.
• Ability to measure and improve treatment outcomes.
• Ability to provide expert consultation to colleagues and students.
• Ability to develop policies, procedures, and practice guidelines.

Skills

Specialized interventions

Differential diagnosis

Outcome evaluation

Clinical consultation

Policy/guideline writing

Education

Master's 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. Applicants must meet the requirements by the closing date of this announcement. 09/25/2026

Basic Requirements

• United States Citizenship: Must be US Citizen. 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 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/.

Grade Determinations

In addition to meeting the basic requirements stated above, the following qualifications criteria must be met in determining the appropriate grade assignment of candidates.

GS-12 Senior Social Worker candidates must have the following

• Experience/Education: Must have at least two (2) years of experience POST advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one (1) 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. Advanced License must be submitted with application.

While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge's Skills, Abilities, and Other Characteristics (KSAOs), you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position. Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training listed below; otherwise, we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim. If selected, you may be required to submit narrative responses then. These are the KSA's for this subject position and grade level:

• 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.

References

VA Regulations, specifically VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Senior Social Worker Qualification Standard, dated 9/10/19. For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements

It is VA policy to ensure that all selected applicants and employed personnel are physically, mentally, and emotionally fit to perform the duties of the position to which assigned. A pre-placement physical examination is required for all full-time, part-time and intermittent employees identified by VA Directive and Handbook 5019. The pre-placement physical examination shall be completed prior to appointment to determine the physical and mental fitness for candidates for appointment in VA. The examination will be concerned with the mental and physical ability of the applicant to satisfactorily perform the duties of the proposed assignment and will include requisite laboratory and other screening as required by Federal regulatory agencies. The work is primarily sedentary, but may require some walking, bending, stooping, standing, stretching, and carrying objects. The physical demands of the work requires use of fingers; moderate walking and standing; near vision correctable at 13\" to 16\" to Jaeger 1 to 4; far vision correctable in on eye to 20/20 and to 20/40 in the other; hearing aid permitted; clear speech; emotional stability; moderate duty.