SUMMARY

This 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. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.

QUALIFICATIONS

Applicants pending the completion of educational or certification/licensure requirements may be referred and tentatively selected but may not be hired until all requirements are met.

Basic Requirements:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• Education: 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: 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.
• Exception. VHA may waive the licensure or certification requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of state prerequisites for licensure/certification examinations. This exception only applies at the GS-9 grade level. For the GS-11 grade level and above, the candidate must be licensed or certified. At the time of appointment, the supervisor, chief social work or social work executive will provide the unlicensed/uncertified social worker with the written requirements for licensure or certification, including the time by which the license or certification must be obtained and the consequences for not becoming licensed or certified by the deadline.
• For appointments at the GS-9 grade level, VHA social workers who are not licensed or certified at the time of appointment must become licensed or certified at the independent, master’s level within three years of their appointment as a social worker.
• A social worker who does not yet have a license that allows independent practice must be supervised by a licensed independent practitioner of the same discipline who is a VA staff member and who has access to the electronic health record.
• English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).

May qualify based on being covered by the Grandfathering Provision as described in the VA Qualification Standard for this occupation (only applicable to current VHA employees who are in this occupation and meet the criteria).
Grade Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met when determining the grade of candidates.

Social Worker, GS-9

• Experience, Education, and Licensure. None beyond the basic requirements.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, the candidate must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
• Ability to work with Veterans and family members from various socioeconomic, cultural, ethnic, educational, and other diversified backgrounds utilizing counseling skills.
• Ability to assess the psychosocial functioning and needs of Veterans and their family members, and to formulate and implement a treatment plan, identifying the Veterans problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and assistance needed.
• Ability to implement treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups to achieve treatment goals. This requires judgment and skill in utilizing supportive, problem solving, or crisis intervention techniques.
• Ability to establish and maintain effective working relationships and communicate with clients, staff, and representatives of community agencies.
• Fundamental knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic, and traumatic illnesses/injuries; common medications and their effects/side effects; and medical terminology.

Social Worker, GS-11

• Experience and Licensure. Appointment to the GS-11 grade level requires completion of a minimum of one year of post-MSW experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the field of health care or other social work-related settings, (VA or non-VA experience) and licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level; OR,
• Education. In addition to meeting basic requirements, a doctoral degree in social work from a school of social work may be substituted for the required one year of professional social work experience in a clinical setting.
• Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following knowledge, skills, and abilities:
• Knowledge of community resources, how to make appropriate referrals to community and other governmental agencies for services, and ability to coordinate services.
• Skill in independently conducting psychosocial assessments and treatment interventions to a wide variety of individuals from various socio-economic, cultural, ethnic, educational and other diversified backgrounds.
• Knowledge of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities and treatment procedures (i.e. acute, chronic and traumatic illnesses/injuries, common medications and their effects/side effects, and medical terminology) to formulate a treatment plan.
• Skill in independently implementing different treatment modalities in working with individuals, families, and groups who are experiencing a variety of psychiatric, medical, and social problems to achieve treatment goals.
• Ability to provide consultation services to new social workers, social work graduate students, and other staff about the psychosocial needs of patients and the impact of psychosocial problems on health care and compliance with treatment.

Preferred Experience: Certification and utilization of brief evidence based practices
Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is in the range of GS-09 to GS-11.
Physical Requirements: See VA Handbook 5019

EDUCATION

Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.

IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. YOUR APPLICATION, RESUME, C.V., AND/OR SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION WILL BE VERIFIED. PLEASE FOLLOW ALL INSTRUCTIONS CAREFULLY. ERRORS OR OMISSIONS MAY AFFECT CONSIDERATION FOR EMPLOYMENT.

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.
The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate’s abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position.
It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment.
Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members.

IF YOU ARE RELYING ON YOUR EDUCATION TO MEET QUALIFICATION REQUIREMENTS:

Education must be accredited by an accrediting institution recognized by the U.S. Department of Education in order for it to be credited towards qualifications. Therefore, provide only the attendance and/or degrees from schools accredited by accrediting institutions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.
Failure to provide all of the required information as stated in this vacancy announcement may result in an ineligible rating or may affect the overall rating.

DUTIES

VA Careers - Social Work: https://youtube.com/embed/enRhzuaUU
Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional
The position is located in the Behavioral Health Clinic (BHC) but works within the Primary Care (PC) clinics to provide integrated services. Because of the complex array of psychological, medical, and social symptoms presented by BHC patients, the assessment and treatment decisions made by the Behavioral Health Social Worker are likely to have serious short- and long-term effects on patients, significant others, and treatment milieu. The PC/MH Social Worker must have the knowledge and skills to make independent decisions regarding the assessment, treatment, and case management of the diagnostically diverse BHC patient population. The Social Worker must make recommendations to PC staff regarding appropriate follow up and referrals. As a member of the interdisciplinary BHC team and PC teams, the Social Worker must form and maintain effective working relationships with staff from a variety of backgrounds to provide patients with an integrated and comprehensive treatment program
Major Duties include but are not limited to:

Assessment:

• The incumbent independently conducts screenings and evaluations of Veterans presenting to PC and the Post-Deployment Clinic.
• When assessing Veterans, the incumbent uses the established functional assessment to determine appropriate level of care for behavioral health services.
• For those patients who remain in PC, the Social Worker continues to reassess and monitor the status of problematic behaviors; routinely evaluates the impact that therapeutic interventions have on patient problems; assesses patients’ progress toward meeting treatment goals and objectives; determines the need for additional assessment of specific problem areas; and assesses the need for more specialized care within the BHC and makes appropriate referrals.

Treatment:

• The PC/MHI Social Worker provides brief, solution-focused psychotherapy as well as crisis intervention. When providing treatment, incumbent relies on own clinical judgment to address patient problems in a fashion that is consistent with the knowledge and skills of other professional staff with Masters level training.
• Provides education to Veterans and follows up with them (via phone, VVC, or face to face) on treatment recommendations and need for further services.
• Provides crisis intervention and stabilization to patients and significant others. Crisis intervention requires the incumbent to function with a high degree of independent judgment in responding appropriately and quickly to unique needs/dangers in crisis situations.
• He/she will keep abreast of new treatment techniques and evidence based practices.
• Finally, the Social Worker documents patients’ responses to treatment in a manner that facilitates the use of this information by other members of the interdisciplinary team.
• The Social Worker will establish session to session treatment goals collaboratively with Veteran.

Case Management:

• The role of the Social Worker is to coordinate treatment activities to ensure that each patient is provided with an individualized, integrated, bio-psychosocial approach to care.
• The Social Worker will make recommendations to the PCP regarding the appropriateness of patient being seen for short term therapy within PC/MHI, PCMHI Referral, or need for BH Specialty care referral. Social Worker will complete the appropriate referrals/consults.
• Performs other duties as assigned

Work Schedule: Monday - Thursday 7:00am - 5:30pm
Compressed/Flexible:Available
Telework: This is not a telework position.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive.Contact VHAVISN04HREDRP@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50’s (current/former Federal employees), etc.

• Cover Letter
• DD-214/ Statement of Service
• Disability Letter (Schedule A)
• Disability Letter (VA)
• License
• Other (1)
• Performance Appraisal
• Professional Certification
• Resume
• Separation Notice (RIF)
• SF-15
• SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action
• Transcrip

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the full questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 09/05/2025 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12787420.

• To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire.
• Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package