Basic Requirements
- Citizenship: Citizen of the United States.
- Licensure: Candidate 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.
- Licensure: Candidate must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.
- Education: Master's degree in social work (MSW) 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 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 master's degree in social work.
Grade Determinations: GS-12 Senior Social Worker Experience: Meets the qualification standard for the GS 12 Senior Social Worker as defined in See VA Handbook 5005/120, Part II Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard GS-185 Veterans Health Administration.
Experience/Education:
(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. 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.
(2)
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.
(3)
Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must
demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
(a) 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.
(b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in
differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
(c) 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.
(d) 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.
(e) 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.
(4)
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. 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 Post-Traumatic 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, in-service 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.
Physical Requirements: Work is sedentary but also demands standing, walking, bending, twisting, and carrying light items.