Senior Social Worker

Veterans Health Administration • Las Vegas, NV

1d • Onsite

About The Position

This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval , award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application. The Senior Social Worker functions as a coordinator of care for veterans at high-risk for suicide and/or self-harm. The Senior Social Worker will serve to facilitate and implement suicide prevention strategies at the VA Southern Nevada Healthcare System through education, public speaking engagements, community outreach, data monitoring, and facilitation of case management activities.

Requirements

• 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.
• 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 evaluation/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.
• Citizenship.
• Be a citizen of the United States
• 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. Requires 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. People 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.
• 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).
• English Language Proficiency. English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• Senior Social Worker, 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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 are as 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.

Nice To Haves

• SMI Experience
• Crisis Management
• Crisis Intervention
• Suicidality Management

Responsibilities

• Assessing the risk of suicide in individual patients in conjunction with the treating clinician and managing the Category I Patient Record Flag for patients at risk for suicide.
• Tracking high-risk veterans and monitoring treatment to ensure that needed services are being received.
• Providing appropriate clinical referrals to Veterans affected by a suicide attempt or bereaved by suicide, including trauma treatment and care for complicated grief.
• Responding to consults from the Veteran Crisis Line within 24 business hours and coordinating the follow-up care for those Veterans and families to assure timely access to care and follow-up for patients in crisis.
• Providing training to clinical and non-clinical staff at the VA Medical Center, Primary Care Clinics, Pahrump CBOC, and community agencies regarding suicide risk factors, warning signs, treatment options, medical center memorandum and standard operating procedures, and resources and medical center.
• Developing and promoting educational materials about the warning signs for Veteran suicide and how to connect individuals in crisis with assistance and care.
• Working to reduce stigma associated with suicidal behavior and mental health and substance use disorders among Veterans.
• Promoting the understanding that recovery from mental health and substance use disorders is real and possible for all Veterans.
• Encouraging collaboration between providers of mental health and substance use services and community-based programs, including peer support programs and Veterans Service Organizations (VSO).
• Delivering interventions to reduce suicidal thoughts and behaviors among Veterans with suicidal risks.
• Providing education about suicide risk assessments such as the Suicide Risk Identification Process including: PHQ2+I9, Columbia-Suicide Severity Rating Scale (C-SSRS), and Comprehensive Suicide Risk Evaluation (CSRE).
• Promoting the use of evidence-based interventions and strategies for suicide prevention.
• Establishing and maintaining an ongoing SAVE Training program with non-clinical frontline staff to assure that they are aware of options for veterans whom they come in contact during crisis situations.
• Playing an active role in the RCA (Root Cause Analysis) Suicide Team by performing individual case reviews, assisting with preparation of yearly aggregate summaries, and facilitating the implementation of system improvement recommended by the Team.
• May serve as a liaison to inpatient acute unit and/or residential treatment unit. If serving as the liaison will work onsite and participate in daily treatment team meetings on the unit(s).

Benefits

• Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP)
• Competitive salary and regular salary increases
• 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)
• 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.
• 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 .
• Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
• Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior