We're Looking for a skilled Senior Social Worker Substance Abuse Treatment Program Satp Edrp in the Veterans Health Administration based in McAllen, Texas. Read through the job description to see if it matches your current experience.

The Successful Applicant

To qualify for this position applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement 04/04/2025. 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. 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 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. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level and must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Advanced practice level social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which includes 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. All states except California use a series of licensure exams administered by the ASWB. Information can be found at https://www.aswb.org/. Physical Requirements. Physical aspects associated with work required of this assignment are typical for the occupation and would generally not require a preplacement examination. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f). 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). Senior Social Worker GS12 Grade Determination: Licensure Requirement: You 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 must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Experience Requirement: You must possess 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. Examples of specialized experience include but are not limited to: assessing and documenting identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse neglect exploitation and/or intimate partner violence use of clinical social work skills maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality per policies handbooks or directives acting as an advocate with appropriate community service providers and agencies when it serves the best interest of the patient and family members/caregiver independently assessing the psychosocial functioning and needs of patients and their family members identifying the patients strengths weaknesses coping skills and psychosocial acuity. Applicable experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. In addition to the experience above you must demonstrate the following Knowledge Skills and Abilities: 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 higherlevel 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 PostTraumatic 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 inservice 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: VA or DoD experience No less than one year of clinical experience providing clinical services. This experience may accompany VAbased telehealth certification. Clear documentation of experience providing evidencedbased clinical practices (i.e. Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for SUD Motivational Interviewing Motivational Enhancement Therapy CPT PE etc..). No less than one year of clinical experience providing substance use treatment clinical services. Reference: For more information on this qualification standard please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/. The full performance level of this vacancy is GS12.

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.