Summary The Senior Social Worker serves on the inpatient Palliative Care Team located on site at the Lake City VAMC. The Senior Social Worker also works with the interdisciplinary team for the inpatient/outpatient Hospice needs within NF/SGVHS. In this role, the Senior Social Worker works closely with the Hospice and Palliative Care Team for coordination of Hospice and Palliative Care services for Veterans who live throughout the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System service area. Responsibilities Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf This position includes consultation, collaboration, and serving as a subject matter expert regarding Hospice, Palliative Care, and Bereavement Services. The Senior Social Worker is a champion for advancing conversations on Hospice, Palliative Care, and Bereavement Services, to include Advance Directives/Goals of Care. The Senior Social Worker functions as a subject matter expert and practices within the interdisciplinary Inpatient Hospice and Inpatient/Outpatient Palliative Care Consult Teams. The Senior Social Worker serves a Veteran population with highly complex health and mental health problems relating to chronic illness, terminal diagnoses, and end of life care. Inpatient consults for these populations are addressed with specialized treatment in the inpatient hospice and palliative care unit, and inpatient medical/surgical units. Outpatient consults can be addressed with specialized treatment via telephone or telehealth contact. Specific care duties may include, but are not limited to: Addressing the impact of and assessing the Veteran's understanding of end-of-life and/or chronic illness on life issues (intimacy, body image, living with chronic illness with the uncertainty of life expectancy, etc.). Responsible for providing psychosocial and mental health assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning/execution, care management, case management, crisis intervention and evidence­ based psychotherapy services to Veterans, their family members and caregivers in assigned clinical position Range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities such as individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management. Utilizes clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and writes policies, standard operating procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area. Proactively addresses advance directive education and facilitates completion and proper documentation to ensure clear and accurate information regarding the Veterans' wishes are available in the electronic health record. Provides consultation to colleagues on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills. Facilitating communication between the treatment team, Veteran, and family, including advocacy and providing education on various topics. Provides orientation, training for new clinical social work staff and licensure supervision for unlicensed staff Required to travel on a regular basis, using personal or government vehicle, to any/all locations of care within the North Florida / South Georgia Veterans Health. Travel can be for long periods of time, up to three hours each way with traffic and may be expected at least 25% or less of work week. This position may include weekends and evening hours if needed and requires the ability to make decisions and complete work assignments within the program area, with very limited or no direct supervision. Preferred experience: Previous and recent experience in clinical setting Specialized experience in Hospice and/or Palliative Care preferred. Work Schedule: Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 4pm Compressed/Flexible: Not Available Telework: Not available Functional Statement #: Senior Social Worker (Hospice and Palliative Care) / #51197F Financial Disclosure Report: Not required Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not available Additional Benefits Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66. Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child. Requirements Conditions of Employment You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job. Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959. Must be proficient in written and spoken English. You may be required to serve a probationary period. Subject to background/security investigation. Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Must pass pre-employment physical examination. Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP). Participation in the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination program is a requirement for all Veterans Health Administration Health Care Personnel (HCP) - See "Additional Information" below for details. Qualifications This is an open continuous announcement and will remain open until Feb 28, 2025. It can be extended if needed. The first cut-off date for referral of eligible applications will be 8 calendar days from opening of announcement, with subsequent cut-off dates. Eligible applications received after that date will be referred as qualified applicants apply or as additional vacancies occur on an as-needed basis until positions are filled. Posting could be removed earlier than close date if all vacancies are filled. Your application will only be sent and referred to hiring manager once. Applicants must meet the requirements by the closing date of this announcement. 02/28/2025 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. AND 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; 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 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/. Physical Requirements: Able to meet the physical demands of the position, reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. They must have good manual dexterity. Must be able to express or exchange ideas by means of spoken and written word. Must be able to view and read information on computer screens. The job entails walking, standing, bending, traveling among several different stories/floors, sitting, working on a computer, carrying objects. The position requires performance of work which involves light physical effort, such as that involved in lifting light files, bending, standing, reaching, operating office equipment such as telephone, copier, fax machine, scanner, etc. Incumbent must be able to climb stairs and walk short distances. Incumbent must be able to lift 25 pounds. The Senior Social Worker is required to travel on a regular basis to other locations of care within the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health. Incumbent must have a valid driver's license and pass Occupational Health screening as position will require driving a government vehicle. Travel is expected at least 25% or less of work week. 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. IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application (official or unofficial) on school letterhead. 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: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/. Additional Information This occupation is listed on the OIG Determination of Veterans Health Administration's Occupational Staffing Shortages fiscal year (FY) 2025 dated October 1, 2024. Therefore, vacancy announcement is exempt from Veterans Preference. Receiving Service Credit or Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions. This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies. This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status. Pursuant to VHA Directive 1193.01, VHA health care personnel (HCP) are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 subject to such accommodations as required by law (i.e., medical, religious or pregnancy). VHA HCPs do not include remote workers who only infrequently enter VHA locations. If selected, you will be required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and submit documentation of proof of vaccination before your start date. The agency will provide additional information regarding what information or documentation will be needed and how you can request a legally required accommodation from this requirement using the reasonable accommodation process. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.