Social Worker (Specialty Mental Health)

Duties The Social Worker is located at the Alaska VA Healthcare System (AVAHS), in the Social and Behavioral Health Service, Anchorage, Alaska. Provides clinical psychosocial and Evidence Based Therapies to eligible Veterans and their family members to meet biological, psychological, social, and environmental needs. Their health care and psychosocial problems and needs are complex and require clinical oversight and creative problem solving.

Interact with patient, family, significant others, community agencies, and other staff. Duties of this position include, but are not limited to the following:

• Interview 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 comprehensive psychosocial assessment. Interprets and explains VA's treatment and benefit programs.
• Reviews all data, subjective and objective, and makes a clinical assessment identifying needs and strengths. Effectively uses professional skill, objectivity, and oversight. Uses advance clinical training, insight, and experience to interpret data and to identify viable treatment options. Assesses high risk factors, acuity, and need for services.
• Has the ability to serve Veterans who tend to have frequent and severe crises, lack family or an adequate community support network, be poor at self-monitoring, frequently fail to comply with instructions and treatment, or have significant deficits in coping skills and require continuing professional psychosocial support.
• Evaluates the client's situation, including the Veteran's reaction and ability to deal with it, and arrives at a reasoned conclusion. Based on the psychosocial assessment, uses professional judgment and advanced practice skills to make a psychosocial diagnosis. Assesses at-risk factors and develops a preliminary disposition plan involving the Veteran and family or significant others. Performs insightful assessment of serious and complicated cases involving psychiatric illness involving psychiatric, 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 with stressful situations.
• Develops psychosocial treatment plans in collaboration with interdisciplinary team members, including goals for psychosocial clinical treatment.
• Independently concludes the appropriate action, even in instances where actions can have serious impact on the life of the Veteran. This might include long-term institutional or nursing home care or separation from family members.
• Makes adjustments to the psychosocial treatment plan, interventions and case management based on changing needs and response to interventions.
• Provides clinical service to Veterans and family members/significant others in support of the Veteran's treatment.
• Organizes community services on behalf of beneficiaries, developing and coordinating procedures for use of these service by related staff.
• Professional judgment, including knowledge of normal and abnormal behavior, is an inherent competency applied in daily interactions with Veterans.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Functional Statement Title/#: Social Worker (Specialty Mental Health)/000000.

Qualifications

Basic Requirements:

• U.S. citizenship.
• Licensed or certified from a State at the independent practice level (LMSW or equivalent). NOTE: See GS-9 level requirements.
• Master's degree in social work from a program approved by the Social Work Education (CSWE).
• Physical Requirements.
• English Language Proficiency.

Preferred Experience: Experience providing psychosocial and Evidenced Based Therapy, Psychosocial Assessments, Psychosocial Diagnoses, Planning Effective Treatment, and Implementing Treatment.

Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic;

religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment.

You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience.

Creditable Experience

(1) Knowledge of Current Professional Social Work Practices. To be creditable, the experience must have required the use of knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics associated with current professio