Senior Social Worker (Suicide Prevention Coordinator/REACH)

Clarification from the agency

NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below. This position is open to US Citizens and Past, Current, upcoming VHA Health Professional Trainee (HPT) graduates

Duties to include but not limited to:

• The Suicide Prevention (SP) Coordinator provides broad support to the Lead Suicide Prevention Coordinator, Mental Health Service Line, Social Work Service Line, and the medical center.
• Maintains a collaborative relationship with the veterans, their family members/ significant others (when applicable and appropriate) and other healthcare professionals with the goal of coordinating care and reducing the risk of suicide
• Coordinator assists with the provision of Suicide Prevention Training programs to both internal and external non-clinical individuals with the goal of heightening awareness of suicide prevention and reducing the risk of suicide among the veteran population.
• Maintains a caseload of veterans who are assigned to the facility High Risk Flag for Suicide list (HRF) and assures that they are followed
  by Mental Health Service Line for a period of 90 days following hospitalization or 90 days from the date of assignment to the High-Risk Flag List
• Maintains a caseload of High-Risk Veterans, providing case management and enhanced care.
• Responds to crisis callers and other clinicians regarding Veterans at immediate risk.
• Participates in daily interdisciplinary meetings with Suicide Prevention Team and weekly meetings to review Consults to Suicide Prevention Program for Veterans to be deemed high risk for Suicide, provide Veteran outreach up to 90 days on a monthly, bi-monthly, or monthly basis
• Develops plans of care to link high risk veterans to mental health access clinic or specialty clinic
• Serves as subject matter expert in Root Cause Analysis Teams on a rotating basis with other SP Team members.
• Participates in monthly National SPC calls.
• Completes Behavioral Autopsy after completed suicide.
• Monitoring the record of Veteran, ensuring compliance with appointments
• Assures that all High-Risk Veterans and staff have familiarity and access to the 24-hour Veteran Crisis Line number 988.
• Works with community resources such as Veteran Service Organizations and Vet Centers to ensure that they are aware of warning and risk factors of a High- Risk Veteran and providing subsequent education for getting these Veterans assistance.
• Assesses and evaluates Veteran's suicidal risk factors and severity of symptoms to make decisions regarding the level of care and type of interventions needed to prevent suicide. This can be done face-to-face, over the phone, or via record reviews.
• Participates in the development of an ongoing education plan for Mental Health Service Line, Facility Health Care Providers, Veterans, families, and members of the community on risk factors and warning signs for suicide, and treatment options.
• Serves as a subject matter expert on Suicide Prevention and consults as needed to inpatient and outpatient providers. May participate in Team Meetings on a regular or an as needed basis.
• Provides education and training throughout the facility.
• Participates in Suicide Prevention Outreach events providing education and materials to community partners and other agencies.
• Participates in monthly meetings with VISN-wide Patient Safety and SPCs.

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhz_ua_UU

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM EST
Compressed/Flexible: Not Authorized
Telework: Not Authorized
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 688-260345-F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact visn5edrpwashingtondc@va.gov , the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS):Not Authorized
PCS Appraised Value Offer (AVO):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.
• 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).
• 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.
• 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 tohttp://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/. NOTE: Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as social worker program coordinator must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision forlicensure.

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:
GS 12:

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: (completion of a minimum of one year of post-MSW experience 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 doctoral degree in social work). 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.

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.

Preferred Experience: Familiarity working with Veterans in the suicide risk assessment, serving Veterans diagnosed with same day mental health needs and/or a serious mental illness. Familiarity and skill in evidence-based practices is important for this role, while working in a Veteran Centric environment. At least two years should be in an area of specialized social work practice in mental health and substance abuse treatment. The incumbent has a post 2 years independent clinical license or certification by a state at the advanced practice level, which includes an ASWB advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advance practice level. The Senior Social Worker 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.

Assignment. 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.

References: VA HANDBOOK 5005/120 PART II APPENDIX G39

The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-12. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS 12.

Physical Requirements: The physical demands of this position involve active listening, reading, observing and evaluating verbal and nonverbal behavior, walking, speaking, bending, carrying light items such as paper, books, small parts, writing reports, writing clinical notes, using office equipment such as computers, telephones, fax machines, photocopy machines, and possibly driving an automobile. The work is performed in an urgent care clinical setting that exposes the incumbent to the communicable disease common to the diseases that are present within the Specialty Outpatient Mental Health Clinic or Urgent Care Clinic. Strenuous physical activity is not required.

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:

• Resume
• Transcript

Special Note for Applications: To complete your application, please use the following link https://vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Resume.docx to download the standard Clinical Resume Document. This one-page document does not need to be modified and must be uploaded into the two-page restricted 'Resume' document upload field.

Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the 'Other' document upload field.

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
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Your full resume/CV may be uploaded without page limitation into the ‘Other’ document upload field.”
• PCS Orders
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• 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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