Supervisory Social Worker

Veterans Health Administration • Palo Alto, CA

1d • Onsite

About The Position

The Supervisory Social Worker is assigned to VA Palo Alto Health Care System in Palo Alto, CA. The Supervisory Social Worker coordinates with multi-disciplinary Staff including close collaboration with the Chief of Acute Care Hospital Operations. They provide direct clinical services to acute care patients and serves as the clinical and administrative supervisory social worker to professional staff.

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 forms 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 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.
• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• 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 4 accreditation standards for a masters of social work.
• 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/
• Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. § 7403(f).
• 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).
• One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 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.
• 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.
• Ability to independently organize work, set priorities, and meet multiple deadlines.
• Knowledge of supervisory duties which includes clinical supervision, consultation, negotiation with other departments and quality improvement.
• Ability to ensure provision of clinical social work services.
• Ability to provide staff training and development.
• Skill in interpersonal relationships in dealing with employees, team leaders, and managers.

Nice To Haves

• 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.
• At the GS-12 grade level, supervisory social workers typically have significant personnel management responsibilities for a small to moderate sized professional and non-professional staff, including support staff and professional staff at the GS-12 grade level and below.
• The supervisory social worker is responsible for the professional and administrative management of an area in a social work service, in a care/product line, or multiple facilities.
• They provide direct clinical services with or without program coordination responsibilities.

Responsibilities

• Administratively responsible for social work services in acute care medicine with additional oversight to social work services in ICU and surgical units as well as the SAMS Program.
• Manages and controls the use of data related to SAMS programming regarding day to day functioning and program evaluation.
• Develops policies and procedures and prepares reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and national use.
• Plans, organizes and directs administrative, operational, and patient-related activities for the SAMS Program.
• Participates in program planning and developing relationships between VA and community providers.
• Collaborates with various community housing or placement services that are familiar with a range of housing resources within the counties of VAPAHCS catchment area.
• Engages in program activities to improve quality of care, assure appropriate utilization, and policy and program development.
• Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in acute care medicine, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services.
• Provides direct supervision to medical social workers and the SAMS Specialist as well as guidance and consultation to colleagues and trainees on the psychosocial treatment of patients in acute care.
• Provides clinical supervision for unlicensed staff for social work licensure or certification.

Benefits

• Competitive salary, regular salary increases, potential for performance awards
• 50 days of paid time off per year (26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
• 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