* VideosVideos* DutiesHelpDutiesSummaryThe Greater Los Angeles VA Healthcare Network is recruiting for a Senior Social Worker in the Psychosocial Rehabilitation and Recovery Center (PRRC). The Senior Social Worker interviews Veterans and conducts psychosocial assessments, makes psychosocial diagnoses, plans effective treatment, and performs evaluations to improve care. The Senior Social Worker is the primary mental health provider for Veterans with Serious Mental Illness (SMI).Learn more about this agencyResponsibilitiesThe major duties and responsibilities include but are not limited to:* Provides services to patients with highly complex health, or mental health problems, and executes administrative responsibilities for clinical program development.* Interviews Veterans and their family members, and significant others to establish facts about the Veterans situation.* Serves Veterans who tend to have frequent and severe crises, lack family, or an adequate community support network, are poor at self-monitoring, and frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment.* Coordinates clinical and psychosocial services and is accountable for the overall effectiveness of the services provided.* Provides case management services to those Veterans at high social or medical risk, serving as the liaison to other treatment programs.* Assists Veterans with serious mental illness, providing individual, group, and family therapies as well as a variety evidence-based psychotherapy.* Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in specialty areas.* Assesses serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness, catastrophic medical conditions, dementia and other high-risk diagnoses.Work Schedule: Monday thru Friday, 8:00am to 4:30pmFinancial Disclosure Report: Not requiredTravel RequiredNot requiredSupervisory statusNoPromotion PotentialNone* Job family (Series)0185 Social WorkSimilar jobs* Community Mental Health Social Workers* Family Social Workers* Mental Health Social Workers* School Social Workers* Social Workers* Social Workers, All Other* RequirementsHelpRequirementsConditions of Employment* You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job* Designated and/or random drug testing may be required* Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959* You may be required to serve a probationary period* Subject to a background/security investigation* Must be proficient in written and spoken English* Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding processQualificationsBasic 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. [Transcripts must be submitted at time of application. Conferral of degree(s) must be stated on transcript(s). Unofficial transcripts(s) are acceptable].* Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS-0185 series in VHA must be licensed 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. [A copy of current license, showing issuance date must be submitted with application]* English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. ยง 7403(f).Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met for this position.Senior Social Worker, GS-12Experience/Education. Applicant 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, the candidate 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.Assignments: For all assignments above the full performance level, the higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), 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; a 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, service, and benefits to this population, 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.Preferred Experience: Mental Health experience.References: VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II, Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard GS-0185 Veterans Health Administration.Physical Requirements: Traveling throughout the medical center and the community is required, as is performing activities involving sitting, walking, and standing, bending and carrying such items as books, papers, and files. In carrying out responsibilities, it will be necessary for incumbent to travel into the community where s/he conducts interviews with veterans, their families, representatives of community health and welfare and law enforcement agencies.EducationIMPORTANT: 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.