Supervisory Social Worker

Duties

The FHCC (Psychosocial Rehabilitation And Recovery Center (PRRC) Supervisory Social Worker/Section Chief manages the administrative and clinical aspects of the Psychosocial Rehabilitation And Recovery Center (PRRC) Program with responsibility for coordinating interdisciplinary staffing, work assignments, the budget, treatment services provided, accreditation compliance and admission/discharge criteria. The incumbent must be licensed at the advanced practice level.

The incumbent supervises professional staff at and above the GS-13 grade. The incumbent provides supervision to professional staff including Nursing RN II staff, advance practice independent Social Worker(s), social worker program coordinators, Clinical Psychologist, Peer Support/Apprentice, social work and psychology interns and practicum students. The incumbent may supervise LCSW pending social workers and social work interns. The incumbent is able to provide clinical supervision to staff to meet state requirements for social work licensure.

The incumbent administers information and analytical systems to evaluate and enhance the quality of service provided to patients. The incumbent develops and implements information systems to track service activities including visits, referrals, patient demographics, equipment utilization and patient satisfaction. The incumbent develops, implements, and evaluates clinical guidelines and protocols to establish appropriate utilization of services.

Incumbent serves as a referral and medical/mental health resource specialist point person for veterans, active duty and families, VA Central Office, Community agencies and outreach efforts. The scope and impact of this position require an extremely knowledgeable, diplomatic leader who has very strong administrative capabilities, takes initiative with respect to program planning, resource allocation, and who exemplary communication skills. The incumbent may be asked to serve on committees at the local, VISN and national.

The incumbent practices in the PRRC program and has experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgement and has at least two years' experience in an area of specialized social work practice. The social worker requires specialized knowledge of the medical, mental health and social needs of the seriously mentally ill.

He/she is able to provide individual, group, and family psychotherapy and advanced level case management interventions used in treatment of veterans with serious medical and psychiatric disorders. The social worker provides services that access the continuum of care from outpatient, independent and institutional settings. The incumbent will often meet clients in the community to facilitate treatment plans.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 am - 4:30 pm.

Functional Statement Title/#: Supervisory Social Worker

Qualifications

BASIC REQUIREMENTS:

• U.S. Citizenship. Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education. Applicants must possess 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. Applicants must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level.
• English Proficiency. To serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA, applicants must be proficient in written and spoken English.

Creditable Experience:

Knowledge of Current Professional Social Work Practices. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics associated with current professional social work practice. The experience or education must be post-MSW degree. Experience and education satisfying this requirement must be active professional practice, which is paid/non-paid employment as a professional social worker, as defined by the appropriate state licensing board.

Quality of Experience. Experience is only creditable if it is obtained following graduation with a master's degree in social work and if it includes work as a professional social worker directly related to the position to be filled. Qualifying experience must also be at a level comparable to social work experience at the next lower level, GS-12.

Advanced Practice Level. Advanced Practice Level is defined as the ability to provide independent and expert clinical psychosocial and case management services in a specialized area of practice to veterans who tend to have serious and severe crises, may lack any familial and community support, may be poor self-monitors, may frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or may have major deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychological support. The advanced practice or Senior Social Worker has an increased depth and breadth of practice skills; has expertise in participating in the professional development of colleagues through mentorship and teaching; demonstrates leadership in developing and expanding professional intervention strategies; demonstrates leadership in defining and attending to professional practice issues; and has the ability to expand the conceptual knowledge of the profession. The advanced practice or Senior Social Worker will make independent professional decisions and recommendations for agency action; the consequences to the veteran of these decisions and actions may be quite serious. Work involves intensive social work services requiring the exercise of mature professional judgment and the flexible use of a wide range of complex social work practice skills not typically required in routine social work interventions. The advanced practice or senior social worker has ; and provides consultation to colleagues, renders professional opinions based on experience and expertise, develops new models of psychosocial assessment or intervention, and incorporates complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment. The advanced practice or Senior Social Worker utilizes outcome evaluations to further treatment and designs system changes based on empirical findings.

GRADE DETERMINATION:

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

Experience, Education and Licensure. Individuals assigned as Supervisory Social Workers must be licensed or certified at the advanced practice level and must be able to provide supervision for subordinate staff to qualify for licensure. Their experience must demonstrate possession of advanced practice skills in a specialty area or in administration demonstrating progressively more professional competency and judgment. They 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.

In addition, the candidate must demonstrate the professional KSAs below:

1. Knowledge and skill in management/administration, which includes supervision, consultation, negotiation, and monitoring.

2. Knowledge of legal, ethical, and professional standards applicable to social work practice.

3. Ability to develop, maintain, and oversee social work programs in all settings. This includes identifying needs for social work assessments, evaluation, and treatment; determining priority needs for social work services; and recommending adjustments to staffing levels accordingly.

4. Demonstrated global knowledge of social work practice in health care and mental health settings including resources, and the policies and procedures pertaining to home and community based care, acute care, ambulatory care, long term care, performance measures, and clinical guidelines.

5. Ability to provide consultation to care line managers and other staff on social work qualification standards, social work practice, social work competency, social work productivity, and social work continuing education.

6. Ability to provide supervision for social work licensure and practice supervision for facility social workers.

References: VA Handbook 5005/50, Part II, Appendix G39

Education

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education.