Senior Social Worker -Women's Health Patient Aligned Care Team

About the role

This Women's Health senior social worker is assigned to PACT team & is located at the Community-Based Outpatient Clinic(CBOC) with responsibility to provide direct services for veterans & their families. This position coordinates outreach, interdisciplinary activities, psychosocial assessments, treatment planning, consultation/education to Health Care System staff, collection and maintenance of statistical data, program planning evaluation, modification, & supervision of students as assigned.

Responsibilities

• Interviews veterans and their family members/significant others to establish facts about the veteran's situation, presenting problems and their causes, and the impact of such problems on the veteran's functioning and health as part of a psychosocial assessment.
• Acts as a consultant on topics related to women's mental health to other team/staff members and take a lead clinical role in case consultation.
• Identifies targeted training needs specifically around gender specific mental health needs not limited to; menopause, infertility, eating disorders, postpartum.
• Collaborates with the Intimate Partner Violence Coordinator, Military Sexual Trauma Coordinator, Women's Health Medical Director and Women's Veteran Program Manager.
• Effectively uses professional skill, objectivity, and insight. Uses advanced clinical training, and experience to identify viable treatment options and makes appropriate referrals for care.
• Serves veterans as inpatients or outpatients who often have severe crises, lack family or community support, frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or have significant deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychological support.
• Independently evaluates the client's situation, including the veteran's reaction and ability to deal with it, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion.
• Assesses serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness, catastrophic medical conditions, dementia and other high-risk diagnoses.
• On an inpatient/outpatient basis, finds a suitable means of treatment to help veterans and/or significant others cope with stressful situations.
• Develops psychosocial treatment plans in coordination with interdisciplinary team members, including goals for treatment.
• Provides independent consultation and makes recommendations to interdisciplinary team on course of treatment.
• Participates in professional peer review, case conferences, or other organized means.
• Provides clinical services to veterans and family members/significant others in support of the veteran's treatment.
• Provides individual and group counseling services, including psychotherapy in some settings.
• PACT services include assisting Veterans with Digital Divide/Telehealth issues.
• Coordinates care and services with resources and service-lines in the Sheridan VA HCS and in the community.
• Establishes and maintains positive working relationships with employees, volunteers, consumers and stakeholders within the VA and outside community agencies.
• Collaborates in the performance improvement processes and comply with performance measures as required by the VHA and for Social Work Service.
• Completes the continuing education hours need for maintaining Professional Licensure.
• Demonstrates professional behavior that conforms to VA regulations and policy, State and Federal laws, and ethical codes of appropriate professional social work accrediting organizations.
• May provide clinical supervision to various disciplines and levels of training, including trainees seeking licensure.
• Serves as a consultant to other medical center staff and trainees and assists in their formulation of the psychological characteristics and appropriate treatment.
• Serves on Medical Center or Healthcare System, VISN, and/or National VA committees or task forces.
• Actively participates in leadership roles on local, state, and national professional organizations.

Qualifications

• 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.
• Licensure or Certification - 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.
• 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.
• 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.