Social Worker (Program Coordinator)

About the role

The 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.

Responsibilities

• Attends justice system staff trainings relevant to working with offenders and high-risk populations and represents the VA at community meetings, seeking or maintaining membership on relevant boards, councils, and task forces.
• Conducts justice-related staff development programs for mental health and other program staff, and provides opportunities for staff to update their mental health professional knowledge and practice skills.
• Active outreach to Veterans involved with the justice system, including those who may be participants or candidates for participation in treatment court programs, including Veterans Courts.
• Advanced clinical training, insight, and experience utilized to interpret data and identify viable treatment options.
• Assesses high-risk factors, acuity, and the need for services.
• Interviews justice-involved Veterans in the appropriate setting to conduct needs assessment and determine appropriate referrals, linkage, and coordination for VA and non-VA services to enhance function in the community, including in transition from jail or prison.
• Establishes a relationship with correctional medical and psychiatric leadership and personnel, where appropriate, to ensure continuity of care and for appropriate backup, if needed, when encountering Veterans in a correctional institution.
• Provides referral and linkage to VA medical and mental health treatment and to other VA services, including VA benefits, as well as community-based social services and other non-VA entitlement programs.
• Collaborates with county probation officers, prosecutors, public defenders, retained defense counsel, and parole officers as appropriate to develop a post-release plan and/or community-based alternatives to incarceration.
• Develops a treatment plan for each Veteran contacted through outreach, including individualized goals and measurable objectives based on relevant psychological, medical, and psychiatric information.
• Conducts individual and family clinical interventions to facilitate the identification of substance abuse, psychiatric illness, and social needs as treatment issues.

Qualifications

• Master's degree in social work from a CSWE-accredited school.
• Licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level.
• One year of experience equivalent to the GS-11 grade level, demonstrating progressively more professional competency.
• 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.
• Licensed or certified at the advanced practice level for individuals assigned as social worker program coordinators.

Skills

• Knowledge of program coordination and administration, including consultation, negotiation, and monitoring.
• Ability to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines for the program.
• Skill in organizing work, setting priorities, meeting multiple deadlines, and evaluating assigned program area(s).
• Ability to provide training, orientation, and guidance within clinical practice.

Benefits

• Competitive salary and regular salary increases.
• 37-50 days of annual paid time off per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year).
• Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience.
• Up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
• Full-time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66.
• Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA.
• Health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement).

Pay

Higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA.

Schedule

Full-time - Monday - Friday - 7:30am - 4:00pm