Job Description
Summary
This position is located at VA Eastern Colorado Health Care | Veterans Affairs. The incumbent serves as a fully qualified Social Worker in the Mental Health Service within a Behavioral Health Interdisciplinary Program (BHIP) team.
Qualifications
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:
- Citizenship
- Be a citizen of the United States
- Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy
- English Language Proficiency
- Social Workers must be proficient in spoken and written English
- 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 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
- Exception: VHA may waive the licensure or certification requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified - pending completion of state prerequisites for licensure/certification examinations
- This exception only applies at the GS-9 grade level
- For the GS-11 grade level and above - the candidate must be licensed or certified
- GRADE DETERMINATION GS-09 Experience - Education - and Licensure
- None beyond the basic requirements
- In addition - the candidate must demonstrate all of the following Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities: Ability to utilize counseling skills when working with Veterans and family members
- Ability to assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members - and to formulate and implement a treatment plan - identifying the Veterans problems - strengths - weaknesses - coping skills - and assistance needed
- Ability to implement treatment modalities in working with individuals - families - and groups to achieve treatment goals
- This requires judgment and skill in utilizing supportive - problem solving - or crisis intervention techniques
- Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communicate with clients - staff - and representatives of community agencies
- Fundamental knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses - disabilities - and treatment procedures
- This includes acute - chronic - and traumatic illnesses/injuries
- common medications and their effects/side effects
- and medical terminology
- GS-11 Experience and Licensure
- Appointment to the GS-11 grade level requires completion of a minimum of one (1) year of post-MSW experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the field of health care or other social work-related settings - (VA or non-VA experience) and licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level
- OR Education
- A doctoral degree in social work from a school of social work may be substituted for the required one year of professional social work experience in a clinical setting
- In addition - the candidate must demonstrate all of the following Knowledge - Skills - and Abilities: Knowledge of community resources - how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services - and ability to coordinate services
- Skill in independently conducting psychosocial assessments and treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic - educational - and other backgrounds
- Knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses - disabilities and treatment procedures (i.e
- acute - chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries - common medications and their effects/side effects - and medical terminology) to formulate a treatment plan
- Skill in independently implementing different treatment modalities in working with individuals - families - and groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric - medical - and social problems to achieve treatment goals
- Ability to provide consultation services to new social workers - social work graduate students - and other staff about the psychosocial needs of patients and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and compliance with treatment
- 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)
- Preferred Experience: Experience providing evidence based psychotherapy in a general mental health setting
- Reference: For more information on this qualification standard - please visit
- The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11
- The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-09 to GS-11
- Physical Requirements: Physical demands of the work are generally minor - as the position requires sitting - standing - and walking
- Some travel is required as the incumbent is required to conducted monthly active outreach in the community which may require traveling long distances
- The emotional demands can be stressful in working with high-risk for suicide veteran population and their families
- A high level of self-awareness is essential
- Work - divided between office and clinical settings - is primarily sedentary
- May require prolonged standing - moderate walking - and manual dexterity
- Requires carrying light items - such as books - files - or laptop computer.
Duties
- VA offers a Comprehensive Total Rewards package: Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional This position is located at VA Eastern Colorado Health Care | Veterans Affairs
- The incumbent serves as a fully qualified Social Worker in the Mental Health Service within a (BHIP) team
- Practices within the National Association of Social Workers (NASW) code of ethics
- Develops a psychosocial assessment of the veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team - the veteran and family members/significant others
- Demonstrates an understanding of the range of treatment and skills needed for all adult patients - being sensitive to human growth and development - age-appropriate needs - and concerns of the veteran - and be able to provide current and advanced techniques to the treatment of this veteran population
- Possess a working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses: disabilities - and treatment procedures - including acute - chronic - and traumatic illnesses - common medications - and their effects/side effects
- and medical terminology
- Responsible for contributing to the development of the treatment plan and setting achievable treatment goals with the veteran - family members/significant others and other Outpatient Mental Health clinical staff
- The incumbent is also responsible for facilitating discharge planning through collaboration with Veterans and their families as well as interdisciplinary treatment team members to ensure that appropriate discharge plans are executed in a timely manner
- Provides individual - family - and group psychotherapeutic treatment of mental and emotional disorders and emotional pain using evidence-based psychological methods (i.e. - ACT - CBT - CPT - PE - etc.)
- The purpose of psychotherapeutic treatment is to address the psychosocial impact of coping with severe mental illness(es) - chronic/disabling illness(es) - onset of a catastrophic illness - etc
- Psychotherapeutic goals include relieving symptoms - increasing understanding - and changing behavior to foster recovery and over all well-being
- Incumbent will collaborate with other service providers in reassessing the veteran's needs
- Responsible for educating the veteran and family members/significant others of the available services and assisting them in establishing the appropriate referrals based on the veteran's preference or that of his surrogate decision-maker
- Understands the intimidation of bureaucracy and will act as an advocate when it serves the best interest of the veteran and family members/caregiver
- When appropriate and feasible - the incumbent will educate and encourage the veteran to advocate on his/her own behalf - thus fostering a sense of independence and empowerment
- Experienced in making rapid assessments and developing crisis management plans for admission to mental health inpatient programs
- The incumbent has access to multiple resource directories in addition to previously developed resources to meet the demands of a crisis
- In the event of a medical or psychiatric emergency: staff will follow the protocol of his/her respective mental health unit/program and VA Medical Eastern Colorado Healthcare System
- Provides education related to VA and community resources - entitlements - Advance Directives/Living Will and will refer veterans and family members/significant others to the appropriate interdisciplinary team member for identified health education needs
- Review the progress notes from the other providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each veteran
- Educate veterans - their family members/significant other and the team of all the options available to them and will collaborate with the veteran and family members/significant other on the preferred option
- Work Schedule: Monday to Friday | 8:00am to 4:30pm
- Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized
- Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized
- 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
- 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) Telework: Not Available
- Virtual: This is not a virtual position
- Functional Statement #: 554-54112-A - 554-54113-A
- Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.
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About Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) is the largest integrated health care system in the United States, providing care at 1,321 health care facilities, including 172 VA Medical Centers and 1,138 outpatient sites of care of varying complexity (VHA outpatient clinics) to over 9 million Veterans enrolled in the VA health care program. VHA Medical Centers provide a wide range of services including traditional hospital-based services such as surgery, critical care, mental health, orthopedics, pharmacy, radiology and physical therapy. In addition, most of our medical centers offer additional medical and surgical specialty services including audiology & speech pathology, dermatology, dental, geriatrics, neurology, oncology, podiatry, prosthetics, urology, and vision care. Some medical centers also offer advanced services such as organ transplants and plastic surgery.
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