Social Worker

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

The Successful Applicant

BASIC REQUIREMENTS: United States Citizenship. Noncitizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy. Education. Possess 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 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 GS0185 series in VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the masters degree level. GRADE DETERMINATION: In addition to the basic requirements for employment the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates. GS12 Social Worker: 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. 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. PREFERRED EXPIERENCE: Experience treating a range of behavioral health conditions using evidenceinformed interventions and experience working with Veterans. PHYSICAL REQUIREMENTS: The work is generally sedentary. The work requires intermittent standing and walking with periods of bending and sitting. The work requires light lifting and carrying of light items (under 15 lbs.) such as charts notes reports and binders. Simple grasping and fine manipulation is required when using a keyboard to access a computer. The work requires the incumbent to travel for conducting visits in the community. Work is typically performed in both a clinical and communitybased setting which may expose the incumbent to the communicable diseases common to the Veteran population. The work environment is adequately lighted and heated. The incumbent may be required to work an irregular tour and/or weekends as the need arises performs related duties as assigned. References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39 This position will be posted via two announcements for two different occupational series which can be considered to fill this vacancy. Qualified applicants from all two announcements will be referred to the service for consideration but only one of the announcements will result in an applicant filling the position. The two job announcements for this vacancy are: Psychologist vacancy number: 12069461

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.