Vocational Rehabilitation Specialist

Duties

• Serve as the vocational Rehabilitation Specialist - Case Manager of the medical center assigned to the vocational rehabilitation/MHRRTP section to ensure that all referred disabled veterans are placed in appropriate programs leading to employment and/or independent living.
• Incumbent will function within the vocational rehab section as part of the Veterans Industries CWT/TWE/IT component.
• Incumbent initiates the rehabilitation process of veterans referred to the Vocational Rehabilitation section to ensure that all treatment and rehabilitative services needed by all referred potentially employable veterans are processed in a comprehensive, coordinated, and timely manner.
• Incumbent is responsible for the provision and utilization of appropriate counseling techniques and strategies to increase the functioning of seriously mentally ill patients as well as those patients with physical disabilities.
• Accepts referral of Chronic/Seriously handicapped veterans and other veterans in all diagnostic categories with varying degrees and combinations of physical, mental, social and psychological disabilities.
• Will be responsible for employing assessment and modification techniques for problems within the psychiatric, clinical, educational, and rehabilitative setting in an effort to maximize the patients' rehabilitative potential.
• This includes patients from Mental Health Intensive Case Management, Day Treatment Center, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services, and Homeless Programs.
• Visits assigned CWT/TWE/IT job sites to ensure individualized proper techniques for procedures and quality contact for regular and severe cases.
• Uses individualized counseling, individualized treatment modalities, individualized job placements, training and development of placement sites, for severely handicapped veterans, to increase their level of functioning for job placement.
• Makes arrangements for exploratory training programs such as sheltered workshops and Incentive Therapy assignments for both regular procedural cases and severe cases assigned to Vocational Rehabilitation.
• In accomplishing this objective, both therapy and job productivity are monitored for future TWE placements.
• Serves as an educational resource via mandatory teaching and individualized educational programs as assessment.
• When appropriate, conducts Group Therapy to cover a vast array of educational, employment training, and community living needs.
• Extensive knowledge of handicapped veterans to ensure employees understand and are willing to comply with recommended job modifications to meet identified needs associated with physical, mental, and social psychological handicaps, work tolerance, and motivational techniques.
• Incumbent is responsible for utilizing his/her skills and knowledge in appropriately matching the veterans' skills with the most appropriate job placement, assessing and reassessing stressors physical or mental associated with the job, and assisting the veteran in successfully moving through obstacles for positive outcomes.

Qualifications

• Basic Requirement: Education: Undergraduate and Graduate Education: Major Study - vocational rehabilitation, vocational or educational counseling, or other fields related to the position.
• OR Experience: General Experience (for positions above GS-5): Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: Work that required obtaining and applying occupational information for people with disabilities, knowledge of the interrelationships of the involved professional and specialist services, and skill in employing the methodology and techniques of counseling to motivate and encourage individuals served by the program.
• Experience that demonstrated knowledge of the vocational rehabilitation problems characteristic of the disabled, including familiarity with available resources and skill in identifying, evaluating, and making effective use of such resources to serve individuals with disabilities; or of the disadvantaged, including knowledge of adjustment problems of the educationally or culturally disadvantaged, familiarity with available adult education and training resources, and ability to recognize problem areas needing special attention.
• Experience in vocational guidance or teaching in a recognized vocational rehabilitation program or school, developmental or supervisory work in programs of vocational rehabilitation or training programs for the disadvantaged, or personnel or employment placement work that provided extensive knowledge of the training and adjustment requirements necessary to place persons having disabilities or social adjustment problems.

Promotion Potential

• The selectee may be promoted to the full performance level without further competition when all regulatory, qualification, and performance requirements are met.

Selection Process

• Selection at a lower grade level does not guarantee promotion to the full performance level.

Work Schedule

• Monday - Friday - 8:00am - 4:30pm

Telework

• Not Authorized

Virtual

• This is not a virtual position