Senior Social Worker

We're Looking for a skilled Senior Social Worker in the Veterans Health Administration based in Sierra Vista, Arizona. Read through the job description to see if it matches your current experience.

The Successful Applicant

NOTE: This position is multidisciplinary and can be filled by: Senior Social Worker License Professional Mental Health Counselor and Advanced Marriage Family Therapist. Each discipline is announced separately and applicants must apply to the announcement for which they are qualified. 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: Noncitizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. English Language Proficiency: Must be proficient in both spoken and written English in accordance with VA policy. Education: Must have a masters 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 masters degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify if that social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a Master of Social Work. Licensure: Persons hired or reassigned to social worker positions in the GS185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the masters degree level. Current state requirements may be found on the OHRM website. Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. Senior Social Worker GS12 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 GS11 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 postmasters 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. ASWB Examination: Must have passed the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB) advanced generalist or clinical examination unless your advanced practice license was granted prior to the state administering the ASWB or your licensure was obtained in the state of California and you have a CA advanced practice licensure Demonstrated Knowledge Skills and Abilities. 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 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: 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. A preplacement exam is not required. The full performance level of the GS0185 job series is GS11 this vacancy is being filled at the GS12 Grade level which is above the FullPerformance Grade level for the job series..

What’s on Offer

The role offers excellent opportunities for top performers to further develop their competencies as a social worker and improving the lives of people.