Job Details

Senior Social Worker - Substance Use Disorders

The Senior Social Worker - Substance Use Disorders serves as Team Leader, Substance Abuse Treatment Program for the Outpatient Substance Abuse Treatment Program in the Huntington VAMC Mental Health Clinic, Healthcare for Homeless Veterans Program. The incumbent has been delegated managerial responsibility for the administrative and clinical aspects of the Substance Abuse Treatment Program, as professionally appropriate.

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

• Administer information and analytical systems to evaluate and enhance the quality of service provided to patients
• Develop and implement information systems to track service activities including visits, referrals, patient demographics, equipment utilization, and patient satisfaction
• Develop, implement, and evaluate clinical guidelines and protocols to establish appropriate utilization of services
• Coordinate interdisciplinary staffing and serves as team leader for an interdisciplinary team
• Advises management on the establishment of program goals, priorities, and major work schedules, develops short/long-range staffing and equipment requirements
• Responsible for analyzing and evaluating professional and technical competency of staff assigned to the program
• Develops Substance Abuse Treatment Policy and Procedures in accordance with JCAH and VA clinical guidelines
• Develops and maintains referral sources to provide access to continuum of care

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:00am-4:30pm

Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized

Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases

Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer 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.

Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.

Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, 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.

Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA

Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)

Telework: Ad-Hoc telework available as per VHA policy.

Functional Statement #: 581-23153-F

Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

Requirements

Conditions of Employment:

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• All applicants tentatively selected for VA employment in a testing designated position are subject to urinalysis to screen for illegal drug use prior to appointment. Applicants who refuse to be tested will be denied employment with VA.
• Selective Service Registration is required for males born after 12/31/1959.
• Must be proficient in written and spoken English.
• You may be required to serve a trial period.
• Subject to background/security investigation.
• Selected applicants will be required to complete an online onboarding process.
• Acceptable form(s) of identification will be required to complete pre-employment requirements.
• Effective May 7, 2025, driver's licenses or state-issued identification cards that are not REAL ID compliant cannot be utilized as an acceptable form of identification for employment.
• Must pass pre-employment physical examination.
• Participation in the seasonal influenza vaccination program is a requirement for all Department of Veterans Affairs Health Care Personnel (HCP).

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:

• Citizenship - You must be a citizen of the United States
• English Language Proficiency - You must be proficient in spoken and written English as required by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f)
• Education and/or Experience Combination - You must possess 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.

Note: A doctoral degree in Social Work may NOT be substituted for the master's degree in Social Work.

License or Certification* - You must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the master's degree level.

*Exception - For assignments at the GS-9 level, VHA may waive the licensure or certification requirement for persons who are otherwise qualified, pending completion of state prerequisites for licensure/certification examinations.

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.

Grandfather Provision. A Social Worker employed in VHA on the effective date of the qualification standard (9/10/2019) who did not meet all the basic requirements in this standard, but who met the qualifications applicable to the position at the time they were appointed, the following provisions apply:

• Employees may be reassigned, promoted up to and including the full performance (journey) level or changed to lower grade within the occupation but may not be promoted beyond the journeyman level or placed in supervisory or managerial positions.
• Employees in an occupation that requires a licensure/certification/registration only at higher grade levels must meet the licensure/certification/registration requirement before they can be promoted to those higher grade levels.
• Employees who are appointed on a temporary basis prior to the effective date of the qualification standard may not have their temporary appointment extended or be reappointed on a temporary or permanent basis until they fully meet the basic requirements of the standard.
• Employees who are converted to title 38 hybrid status under this provision and subsequently leave the occupation lose protected status and must meet the full VA qualification standard requirements in effect at the time of re-entry to the occupation.
• Employees initially grandfathered into this occupation who subsequently obtain additional education and/or licensure/certification/registration that meet all the basic requirements of this qualification standard must maintain the required credentials as a condition of employment in the occupation.

Physical Requirements: See below and VA Directive and Handbook 5019, Employee Occupational Health Services.

English Language Proficiency: Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English.

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:

Senior Social Worker, GS-12

Licensure Requirement:

You must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

Experience/Education:

You must possess at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level.

Examples of specialized experience include, but are not limited to:

• assessing and documenting identified behaviors or symptoms of abuse, neglect, exploitation and/or intimate partner violence;
• use of clinical social work skills;
• maintaining patient privacy and confidentiality per policies, handbooks or directives;
• acting as an advocate with appropriate community service providers and agencies when it serves the best interest of the patient and family members/caregiver;
<