PCMHI Colocated Collaborative Care Behavioral Health Consultant - Senior Social Worker

Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. Open to current permanent Department of Veteran Affairs employees. Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order: 1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility. 2. All other VHA employees. 3. Current permanent Federal employees of other agencies.

This Primary Care Mental Health Integration (PCMHI) Senior Social Worker position is administratively aligned with the Mental Health Service and is assigned as a Colocated Collaborative Care (CCC) behavioral health consultant in Primary Care. PCMHI is a component of the interdisciplinary Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT). Duties includes but are not limited to:

• Collaborates with PCPs and the interdisciplinary PACT to support high quality, effective, and coordinated service delivery at the patient and programmatic levels
• Maintains daily open access slots and encourages same day warm handoffs within PACT
• Completes most individual appointments (e.g., 75%) within 30 minutes
• Uses Measurement Based Care (MBC) in accordance with nationally recommended guidelines for PCMHI
• Conducts initial functional assessments that are focused on the main reason(s) for referral and are less extensive than traditional mental health intake evaluations (e.g., 30 minutes vs. 60 or 90 minutes for traditional evaluation)
• Writes clear, concise notes that are optimized for collaboration within PACT based on the PCMHI CCC functional assessment and follow up visit guidelines
• Notes document important elements for team collaboration (e.g., MBC, curbside consultation/team care discussion, liaison with specialty care providers) as appropriate
• Engages in PACT huddles and meetings to cultivate collaborative team functioning and serve as a subject matter expert for behavioral health considerations
• Provides education to PACT on behavioral health and health behavior issues, as well as tips to promote effective patient communication, motivational enhancement, and behavior change
• Serves on Medical Center or Healthcare System, VISN, and/or National VA committees or task forces, as endorsed by supervisors

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00am - 4:30pm
Telework: Available for Ad-hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 40981F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized.
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact VISN9HREDRP@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized.

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.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process. Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the "Required Documents" section of this announcement.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.

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:

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. 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/.

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).

Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Senior Social Worker, GS-12:

Experience. 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. 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.

Education. 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.

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 of 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 higher-level duties must consist of significant scope, complexity (difficulty), and variety and be performed by the incumbent at least 25% of the time. Social workers in this assignment are responsible for social work-related research and management information activities. They are responsible for identifying, initiating, developing, conducting, and testing hypotheses related to the operational efficiency and effectiveness of social work at the facility level. They serve as an expert consultant to health services researchers throughout the facility in their disciplinary area of expertise. Research social workers provide hospital-wide research technical support to other offices such as the Associate Chief of Staff (ACOS) for Research and Development and the ACOS for Education. They are responsible for planning, implementing, and consulting on joint social work and inter-disciplinary research projects conducted through the auspices of affiliated academic institutions. They identify deficits in information regarding optimum delivery of social work services relating to both patients and the health care delivery system. The research social worker develops proposals to address identified social problems, the execution of research projects, analysis of the results, and their dissemination to improve the effectiveness and organizational efficiency of social work service and the medical center it supports. They work independently and in collaboration with other health services research scientists to formulate and conduct research projects related to their disciplinary field. Duties include but are not limited to: consulting and assisting VA health services researchers in the integration of theoretical concepts and applied research issues; advising and assisting VA health services researchers in the selection and application of appropriate analytic methods and statistical procedures for projects involving their area of expertise; preparing and submitting scientific articles and research reports to journals, publication and professional meetings; participating in the scientific review and critique of health services research proposals; and serving on medical center research related committees as appointed(i.e., Research and Development committee, Animal Care and Use Committee and Human Studies Sub-committee). With direction from the social work chief/executive and other medical center leaders, the incumbent coordinates, assesses, and develops data elements, information systems, and reports that address the reporting requirements and information needs of social work service. The research social worker participates in the needs assessments and the development of program evaluation projects that address the department needs. They determine research project staffing needs. They submit complete progress and final reports to fulfill specified reporting requirements. Responsibilities may include clinical social work duties in patient care areas.]

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12.

Physical Requirements: Work is typically performed in a clinical setting that exposes the incumbent to communicable diseases common of the client population.

How you will be evaluated

You will be evaluated for this job based on how well you meet the qualifications above.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.

It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.

Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes:

• Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV)
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action

NOTE: Your resume must include your Name and contact information. Your resume must have the following information for each position you have listed on your resume: position title, employer, city/state, duties, begin/end dates of employment including the month and year (mm/yy - mm/yy),and full-time or part-time status with the number of hours worked each week. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE and/or KSAs. If your resume does not support your questionnaire answers, we will not allow credit for your response(s).

SF-50, Notification of Personnel Action (if applicable for Time in Grade and/or Eligibility):

• Most recent SF-50 if you are a current or former Federal employee
• An SF-50 showing your time-in-grade eligibility must be submitted with your application materials. If the most recent SF-50 has an effective date within the past year, it may not clearly demonstrate you possess one-year time-in-grade, as required by the announcement. In this instance, you must provide an additional SF-50 that clearly demonstrates one-year time-in-grade
• Award 50's do not provide sufficient information and will not be accepted for the purpose of verifying time-in-grade.

Examples of appropriate SF-50's include:

• Within grade increases at the highest grade held; or
• Promotions with an effective date more than one year old; or
• SF-50's at the highest grade held with an effective date more than one year old.

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc.

• Cover Letter
• Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV)
• license or certification by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless grandfathered by the state in which 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.
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Veterans' Preference: When applying for Federal Jobs, eligible Veterans should claim preference for 5pt (TP), 10pt (CP/CPS/XP), or for Sole Survivor Preference (SSP) in the questionnaire. You must provide a legible copy of your DD214(s) which shows dates and character of service (honorable, general, etc.). If you are currently serving on active duty and expect to be released or discharged within 120 days you must submit documentation related to your active duty service which reflects the dates of service, character of service (honorable, general, etc.), and dates of impending separation. Additionally, disabled veterans and others eligible for 10-point preference (such as widows or mothers of eligible Veterans) must also submit an SF-15 "Application for 10 Point Veteran Preference" with required proof as stated on the form. Documentation is required to award preference. For more information on Veterans' Preference, please visit Feds Hire Vets - Veterans - Job Seekers - Veterans' Preference.

Veterans' preference does not apply for internal or other current permanent Federal agency employees.

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