Summary

The Senior Social Worker is assigned to the acute medicine/surgery unit at the Gainesville VA Medical Center - located in Gainesville - Florida. The Senior Social Worker is responsible for providing assessment - discharge planning - and crisis intervention services to Veterans - their families/caregivers on the acute care medicine - surgery - neurology - intensive care inpatient units - emergency department and outpatient clinics.

Qualifications

Applicants must meet the requirements by the closing date of this announcement. 05/27/2025

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Must be US Citizen
• 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 to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/
• Grade Determinations: In addition to meeting the basic requirements stated above - the following qualifications criteria must be met in determining the appropriate grade assignment of candidates
• GS-12 Senior Social Worker candidates must have the following: Experience/Education: Must have at least two (2) years of experience POST advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which - one (1) 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
• AND 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
• Advanced License must be submitted with application
• While we no longer require essay-style responses to our Knowledge's Skills - Abilities - and Other Characteristics (KSAOs) - you must be able to demonstrate that you possess the (below) competencies which are necessary to perform the work of the position
• Please ensure your resume/CV/application contains sufficient information to support the level of experience/education/training
• otherwise - we will not be able to award you credit for the experience/education/training you claim
• If selected - you may be required to submit narrative responses then
• These are the KSA's for this subject position and grade level: 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
• References: VA Regulations - specifically VA Handbook 5005/120 - Part II - Appendix G39 - Senior Social Worker Qualification Standard - dated 9/10/19
• 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: Able to meet the physical demands of the position - reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions
• They must have good manual dexterity
• Must be able to express or exchange ideas by means of spoken and written word
• Must be able to view and read information on computer screens
• The job entails walking - standing - bending - traveling among several different stories/floors - sitting - working on a computer - carrying objects
• The Senior Social Worker is required to travel on a regular basis to other locations of care within the North Florida/South Georgia Veterans Health System to carry out job duties/assignments
• The Senior Social Worker is required to drive and/or travel using personal vehicle or government vehicle to other sites of care within the NF/SG VHS - as well as - to community partners - as necessary
• Travel can be for long periods of time - so a valid driver's license is required
• Travel is expected at least 50% of work week.

Duties

• Total-Rewards-of-an-Allied-Health-VA-Career-Brochure.pdf Social Work: vacareers.va.gov/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/Total-Rewards-of-a-Social-Worker-Career-Flyer.pdf The Senior Social Worker is primarily responsible for providing psychosocial and mental health assessment - diagnosis - treatment planning/execution - care management - case management - crisis intervention and evidence-based psychotherapy services to Veterans - their family members and caregivers in within Acute Medicine-Surgery units
• Duties for this position include but are not limited to: Receives referrals from a variety of sources to include triage - consults - walk-in visits - phone calls - and warm hand-offs from internal/external stakeholders
• The Senior Social Worker is required to utilize available data sources to proactively identify patients for screening/triage - assessment - treatment planning - case management and care coordination
• Provides crisis intervention services - seeking to address the cause as well as presenting complaint - coordinates family conferences and serves as a liaison to family members/caregivers
• The Senior Social Worker has working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses - disabilities - and treatment procedures
• This includes acute - chronic - and traumatic illnesses/injuries - mental health conditions - and common medical terminology
• Independently conducts psychosocial and behavioral health/mental health assessments - can provide accurate diagnosis using most current version of the DSM
• Measures outcomes of interventions to improve treatment services
• The Senior Social Worker designs changes based on empirical/measurement-based care and other findings
• Utilizes clinical knowledge in the social work profession - and writes policies - standard operating procedures - and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area as directed by Social Work Supervisor
• Proactively addresses advance directive education and facilitates completion and proper documentation and record scanning to ensure clear and accurate information regarding the Veterans' wishes are available in the electronic health record
• Serves as a subject matter expert for clinical social work practice/processes within the Acute Medicine-Surgery units
• Provides 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
• Provides orientation and training for new clinical social work staff as directed by Social Work Supervisor
• Provides licensure supervision and coaching for unlicensed staff to become licensed in accordance with State laws and VA policy/standard operating procedures
• Teaches - mentors and coaches MSW students in specialty area and provides supervision for licensure and participates in the MSW student training program
• Uses advanced practice knowledge and experience to assist with training front line staff as well as providing clinical supervision for unlicensed Social Workers
• Required to travel on a regular basis to other locations of care within the North Florida / South Georgia Veterans Health System to carry out job duties/assignments - as well as - required to drive and/or travel using personal or government vehicle to other sites of care between the 2 main hospitals in Gainesville and Lake City or to community partners as necessary
• Travel is expected at least 50% of work week
• This position may include weekends and evening hours and requires the ability to make decisions and complete work assignments within the program area - with very limited or no direct supervision
• Preferred experience: Acute Medical/Surgical and/or mental health/behavioral health setting experience providing assessment - treatment and case management
• Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 7:30am to 4pm (may include weekends or evenings if needed) Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 51920F Additional Benefits Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment - full time employees with a total family income below $144 -000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66
• Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement) Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave - 13 days of sick leave - 11 paid Federal holidays per year) Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment - up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth - adoption - or foster care placement of a child.