Clarification from the agency

This position is ONLY open to current, permanent VA Western Colorado Health Care System Employees. NOTE: The 2-page Resume requirement does not apply to this position. For more information, refer to Required Documents below.

VA Careers - Licensed Clinical Social Worker: https://youtube.com/embed/U_xC25QsN0w
Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

• Develop the schedule for all CRT staff and collaborate with on-call mental health providers to ensure that there is appropriate coverage for the ED.
• Identify and develop training for CRT staff as it relates to provision of care, orientation, documentation, etc.
• Serve as a member of the service line leadership, assisting with strategic planning, professional development, hiring, mentoring, coaching, and coverage.
• Develop downtime protocols for staff.
• Function autonomously to set priorities to meet the needs of Veterans, staff, and services collaborated with.
• Communicate effectively with Chief and Deputy Chief about successes, needs, and challenges.
• Provide clinical recommendations to ED physicians regarding appropriateness of psychiatric admissions and/or ED discharge with referral(s) to outpatient services, prioritizing patient safety, and balancing emergent situations arising simultaneously.
• Facilitate admissions to the Acute Mental Health Unit (5P) and/or collaborates with community facilities for psychiatric resources, to include admission.
• Ensure continuity of care for all Veterans presenting to the ED in mental health crisis by providing intervention and/or facilitating services with another provider(s).
• Provide education and referrals to veterans for community services, and coordinates these services, as necessary. Act as a liaison between community and VA programs as needed. Make appropriate referrals, as indicated, to reporting agencies such as Department of Family Services, Adult Protective Services, police, etc. Provide consultation to colleagues regarding emergent/urgent situations.
• Conduct all required Focused Professional Practice Evaluations (FPPE) and Ongoing Professional Practice Evaluations (OPPE).
• Ensure that staff are trained in conducting peer chart reviews.
• Ensure that clinical privileges are appropriate, and where needed additional privileges are requested by staff. Provide regular clinical supervision to team.
• Be accountable for practice of self and CRT team, including entering patient visits, appropriate clinical documentation, entering consults, and meeting productivity standards.
• Assess the ongoing needs of staff and provide appropriate education and training.
• Collaborate with other teams and services to increase education, awareness, and training opportunities.
• Appropriately delegate actions and duties to members of the team to promote professional development.
• Communicate with the Chief and Deputy Chief about needs and competing priorities.
• Consult with medical center staff on a wide variety of patient care issues.
• Conduct strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and challenges (SWOC) assessment of program and address needs appropriately.
• Utilize LEAN principles and practices to respond to organizational and operation needs.
• Determine suicide and homicide risk utilizing current evidence-based research tools. Incumbent will fully assess suicide/homicide risk and protective factors to determine safety of the patients. Complete comprehensive suicide risk evaluations (CSRE), safety planning, and suicide behavior reports, as needed.
• Ensure adherence to facility and national risk management policies for assessment, management, consultation and documentation related to suicide/homicide risk.
• Provide assessment, brief psychotherapeutic interventions, and treatment referrals for veterans presenting with substance use disorders.
• Evaluate options to mitigate potential safety concerns which may include calling police for assistance, providing crisis intervention, mediating conflicts, and/or making referrals to ensure a safe outcome.
• Facilitate transfer and/or discharge from ED with appropriate continuity of care.
• Provide a full range of therapeutic interventions to veterans on the Psychiatric Inpatient Unit as part of after-hour behavioral health services, including individual, couples/family and group psychotherapy using empirically supported approaches.
• Conduct daily treatment rounds on the inpatient unit during non-business hours (weekends and holidays).
• Document psychological interventions and consultation activities in the patient's clinical record utilizing the electronic health record (EHR) and ensures an appropriate hand-off and documentation when transferring patient care.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am - 4:30pm
Recruitment/Relocation Incentive: May be authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not authorized.
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact VHA.ELRSProgramSupport@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Telework: On an ad-hoc basis.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 590810
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

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 seriesin VHA must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work atthe master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going tohttp://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.

All states except California use a series of licensure exams administered by the ASWB. Information can be found at https://www.aswb.org/.The ASWB is the association of boards that regulates social work. ASWB develops and maintains the social work licensing examination used across the country andis a central resource for information on the legal regulation of social work. The ASWB offers three examinations. The master's examination is generally used by states for the independent practice level of licensure or certification, while the advanced generalist and the clinical examinations are used for the advanced practice level of licensure or certification. Differences between the master's and the advanced exams demonstrate the expectation that advanced practice social workers will have a more sophisticated knowledge of practice theory and its application.

English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and writtenEnglish to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).

Grade Determination. In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.
Supervisory Social Worker, GS-13

Experience/Education. One year of experience equivalent to the GS-12 grade level. Experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment. Candidate may have certification or other post-master's degree training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship, or equivalent supervised professional experience.

Assignments at the GS-12 level. 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.

Licensure/Certification. Individuals assigned as supervisory social workers must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level, and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs). In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:

• (a) Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines.
• (b) Skill in a range of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement.
• (c) Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services by supervised social workers.
• (d) Ability to delegate authority, manage priorities, coordinate work, and follow up on pending issues to complete duties in an accurate and timely fashion.
• (e) Ability to analyze organizational and operational problems, develop and implement solutions that result in efficient operations, and use data effectively to manage workload, quality, performance, and productivity within the service.
• (f) Ability to provide staff training and development.

Preferred Experience: Understanding of VA Mental Health operations.

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-13.

Physical Requirements: Must be in overall good health, able to sit at a desk working at a computer, engage in light to moderate physical
activity including sitting, walking, bending, and carrying supplies. Social Worker must be able to perform primarily light and sedentary duties with occasionally moderate physical demands, exercise patience, and control emotions, with reasonable accommodation, if necessary, without endangering the health and safety of the social worker or others. Position requires walking throughout the clinic and/or Medical Center, standing for extended periods of time, and involves sitting at a computer and in counsel and consultation with Veterans and interdisciplinary teams. This position also requires close visual acuity to perform an activity such as: preparing and analyzing data and figures; transcribing; viewing a computer terminal; extensive reading; and repetitive motions of the wrists, hands, and/or fingers.

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:

• License
• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• 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
• License
• Other (1)
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcript

Next steps