Social Worker (LMSW/APSW)

About the role

We are VITAS Healthcare, the nation’s leading end-of-life care provider since 1978. Our hospice organization kickstarts careers in caring, promotes from within, and provides a nationally recognized best-in-class employee experience. Supported by industry-leading experts and a growing network of programs in 15+ states, VITAS empowers team members to grow toward their goals while transforming patients’ lives. Our priority is to care: For our patients, for each other, and for the future.

Responsibilities

• Provide emotional and logistical support to patients and their loved ones during an important and vulnerable time.
• Ensure VITAS patients reach the end of life with their affairs in order, honoring their wishes for finances, funeral arrangements, and more.
• Help loved ones navigate the grieving process.
• Grant end-of-life wishes and listen to patients’ stories at their bedside.
• Provide emotional and psychological support to patients and families.
• Offer counseling and crisis intervention services.
• Provide bereavement support and grief counseling.
• Educate patients and families on the emotional and psychological response to the illness progression.

Where you’ll work

Each day is different for our social workers. You will spend most of your time caring for hospice patients wherever they call home, which may be a private residence or an assisted living/skilled nursing facility. About once a week, you'll come to the office to meet with the rest of your interdisciplinary team: the RNs, physicians, chaplains, and fellow nurses who work together to provide 360-degree support to the patients and families we serve.

What’s expected from you

• Honor the trust of our patients and center others in your work.
• Have reliable transportation and at least one year of social work experience in a health care setting.
• Approach your work with Commitment, Compassion, and a Can-do Attitude.
• Keep patient welfare at the center of everything you do, giving your best each day in service of our core commitment: Extending comfort and dignity to all people at the end of their life’s journey.

Requirements

• Ability to travel per job requirements.
• Thorough knowledge of community resources or the desire/ability to obtain this knowledge.
• Knowledge of key psychosocial issues prevalent with terminally ill patients and their family/caregivers, including the knowledge of effective psychosocial interventions to address those issues.
• Capacity to relate and work well with others as a member of an interdisciplinary team.
• Excellent listening and communication skills.
• Ability to be an effective patient and family advocate—both within the patient/family unit, within the core IDG, and within community agencies.

Qualifications

• Masters of Social Work required from a school accredited by the Council on Social Work Education, unless grandfathered in per the 2008 Medicare Hospice Condition of Participation.
• At least one year social work experience in a health care setting.
• Experience as a social worker with the terminally ill and their families, preferred.
• Experience in providing counseling and support to patients and families.
• Empathy and compassion in dealing with seriously ill patients and their families.
• Equivalent experience of licensure may be considered where allowable by State Regulations (i.e. a BSW in FL or WI).
• License and/or Certification if required by State.

Minimum State Requirements

• AL: Licensed Bachelors of Social Work (LBSW)
• CA: BSW cannot be used as the core SW
• CT: Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW)
• DC: Licensed Graduate Social Worker (LGSW)
• DE: Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker (LBSW)
• FL: BSW
• GA: Licensed Master Social Worker
• IL: Licensed Social Worker (LSW)
• MO: Baccalaureate Social Worker (BSW)
• NJ: Licensed Social Worker (LSW)
• OH: Licensed Social Worker (LSW)
• PA: Licensed Social Worker (LSW)
• TX: Licensed Baccalaureate Social Worker (LBSW)
• VA: Licensed Social Worker (LSW)
• WI: Social Worker Certificate