Senior Social Worker (Acute Psych)

About the role

The Behavioral Health Care Line at the New Mexico VA Health Care System is seeking a full-time Senior Social Worker to provide evidence-based assessments, psychotherapy, and discharge planning for Veterans in the Inpatient Psychiatry Program in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Responsibilities

• Oversee the daily operations of discharge planning for Veterans in the Acute Psych ward.
• Aids in the development of policies and procedures for program operation and prepares reports and statistics for facility, VISN, and VACO use.
• Develops and monitors program compliance with practice, standards, and guidelines on documentation, workload, ethical practice, and Veteran outcomes.
• Provides analysis and evaluation of clinical program data and computerized programs to identify system-wide trends to enhance the quality of service.
• Assists with the development of the annual budget, operates within the budget, and manages various other fiscal related matters.
• Provides leadership, direction, orientation, coaching, in-service training, staff development, and continuing education programs.
• Initiates and conducts a variety of program or service audits or completes designated clinical practice audits and reports, including productivity assessments.
• Oversees program operations and evaluations, identifies areas to improve, gathers relevant data, assesses the data, develops and implements ideas for improvement and evaluates efficacy of improvement.
• Develops, implements, evaluates and reports on program performance, including assigned measures, monitors, data and other metrics of interest.
• Participates in program planning and development, advises the supervisor of shifting trends with caseloads and makes recommendations on programs, procedures, or policy changes based upon work experiences.
• Designs and utilizes recognized process improvement tools to identify areas needing improvement and strategies for improvement. Demonstrates the ability to design changes based on empirical findings.
• Provides timely and accurate information both verbally and in writing for reports to the Medical Center Director, Acute Psychiatric, MHRRTP Social Worker Supervisor, and others as indicated by program requirements.
• Ensures that social work practice in assigned settings is evidence-based and in keeping with recognized social work treatment methods.

Requirements

The applicant must be a Master’s-Level Social Worker able to practice independently in their state of licensure.

Qualifications

• 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).
• Licensure: Must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level.
• Language Proficiency: Must be proficient in spoken and written English.

Benefits

Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).

Pay

Not specified.

Schedule

Monday - Friday, 8:00 AM - 4:30 PM.