Senior Social Worker (caregiver Support)

Caregiver Support Senior Social Worker

The Caregiver Support Senior Social Worker practices within the Caregiver Support Program in Social Work Service at the Phoenix VA Healthcare System. In addition to direct care services, 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 with limited access to onsite supervision such as CBOC and outpatient clinics.

Duties include but are not limited to:

• Ensure compliance with Caregiver Program guidelines and collaborate with the local facility and the VA Central Office Caregiver Support Program on related initiatives
• Manage a caseload of approved Family Caregivers (Dyads) including monitoring visits, initial applications, oversight of current approved applications, caregiver stress and maintaining active communication with the Dyad.
• Conduct caregiver and family clinical interventions to facilitate stress reduction, identify emotional destress and identify social needs as treatment issues.
• Collaborate with the patient aligned care team, mental health team and staff coordinating care with assigned Dyad to promote coordination of care and facilitate recovery.
• Provide ongoing consultation and support to colleagues regarding caregiver support program.
• Develop and facilitate caregiver support groups (to include face to face and telehealth format) and educational programs.
• Distribute educational materials provided by VA, local, state and national caregiver organizations.
• Facilitate the walk in clinic for Caregiver Support Program in rotation with other Senior Social Workers within the Caregiver Program
• Manages the telephonic requests for contact
• Provides clinical consultation and guidance to lesser experienced Social Workers
• Actively participate in program planning and development

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 7:00am to 3:30 pm

Requirements:

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• 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.
• 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.

Preferred Experience:

• Must possess current driver's license

Grade Determinations:

• Senior Social Worker, GS-12 (1) 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 GS-11 grade level.
• 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.

Physical Requirements: Traveling throughout the medical center and the community is required, as is performing activities involving sitting, walking, and standing, bending and carrying such items as books, papers, and files. In carrying out responsibilities it may be necessary for the incumbent to travel into the community where he/she conducts interviews with the Veterans, their families, representatives of community health and welfare agencies and law enforcement agencies. The incumbent must possess current driver's license and drive a government vehicle in carrying out professional duties when deemed necessary.