Senior Social Worker - Behavioral Health Access Team - EDRP

About the role

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) – is determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

The Behavioral Health Access Team (BHAT) Senior Social Worker is a senior practitioner that works as part of a multidisciplinary team comprised of psychiatric providers, psychologists, nurses, medical support assistants, and other social workers of varying practice levels, providing immediate access – on demand – same‑day mental health services to Veterans enrolled in the El Paso VA Health Clinic.

Responsibilities

• Under the direction of the BHAT Program Manager, orients, trains, and oversees new social work staff and other interdisciplinary and allied staff in BHAT systems, processes, and workflows.
• Serves as a mentor and coach to other social workers, assumes responsibility and shows initiative for their learning and professional development, and evaluates BHAT social work practice through participation in professional peer reviews.
• Utilizes de‑escalation strategies, conducts suicide risk assessments, develops and implements crisis management plans, establishes safety plans, coordinates admission to inpatient psychiatric programs, and coordinates after‑care treatment.
• Completes same‑day triage assessments, crisis assessments, suicide risk assessments, and biopsychosocial assessments of Veterans in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the Veteran, and Veteran’s family members/caregivers.
• Collaborates with the Veteran in treatment plan development based on the biopsychosocial assessment, sets achievable treatment goals with the Veteran, and identifies outcome‑based measures for each goal.
• Collaborates with other service providers throughout the ongoing assessment of Veteran needs.
• Educates the Veteran and, if requested, family members/caregivers about available services and assists them in establishing appropriate referrals based on Veteran needs and preferences.
• Identifies, understands, and brokers available resources within the VA and community to meet Veterans’ presenting needs.
• Provides education to Veterans and involved family/caregivers related to evidence‑based psychotherapy treatments, group therapy treatment, and/or additional VA and community resources.
• Reviews progress notes from other multidisciplinary providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each Veteran.
• Assists the BHAT Program Manager in drafting policies, procedures, functional statements, planning and conducting department meetings, attends all required Behavioral Health staff meetings, and performs other duties as required.
• Enters all Veteran/family contacts in the electronic record using appropriate formats and templates.

Qualifications

• Basic Requirements
  • United States Citizenship: Non‑citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA policy.
  • Education: 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 in candidacy status do not meet this requirement until the school is fully accredited. A doctoral degree in social work may not be substituted for the master’s degree.
  • 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 can be verified at vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid. 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 in this occupation who meet the criteria).
• Grade Determinations (GS‑12)
  • Experience/Education: At least two years of experience post‑advanced practice clinical licensure, with one year equivalent to the GS‑11 grade level, in a specialized area of social work practice.
  • Senior social workers demonstrate advanced practice skills and judgment, are experts in their specialized area, and 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: Must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level (including an advanced generalist or clinical examination) unless grandfathered by the state (except for California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs)
  • Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations, including 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.
• Preferred Experience
  • Knowledge of working with Veteran and/or Military populations.