Veterans Health Administration Logo
Position Title
Senior Social Worker-Suicide Prevention Coordinator
Agency
Veterans Health Administration
Announcement Number
CBSU-12700436-25-JMW Opens in new window
Open Period
Monday, February 24, 2025 to Monday, March 10, 2025
For preview purposes only. To apply, please return to the USAJOBS announcement and click the Apply button.
Eligibilities
1. Are you currently employed by the Department of Veterans Affairs?
This includes: Career/Career Conditional or Excepted Service (i.e. Canteen, Hybrid, Title 38, etc. and meets interchange agreement requirements). This does not include temporary, term or temporary intermittent.

To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your most recent Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50).  Your SF-50 must include enough information to be able to determine that time-in-grade requirements have been met (if applicable) and include your position title, pay plan/series/grade, tenure and the type of appointment (i.e. Competitive or Excepted).  Please be aware that award SF-50's do not always include this pertinent information.
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2. Are you a current/past/upcoming VHA Health Professions Trainee (HPT) Graduate?

An HPT may be VA-paid, Without Compensation (WOC), or a participant of the VA Health Professional Scholarship Program that has been appointed to a temporary position in one or more VHA medical facilities performing clinical or research training experience to satisfy program or degree requirements.

To verify your standing as a current/past/upcoming HPT graduate, you must submit a copy of your latest Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50), the FL-294 (or a WOC appointment letter).
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3. Are you a current permanent Federal employee from an agency other than Department of Veterans Affairs?

To verify your eligibility, you must submit a copy of your latest Notification of Personnel Action, Standard Form 50 (SF-50) or equivalent personnel action form.
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4. Are you willing to accept the working conditions as indicated in the announcement? (limit characters)
5. Are you willing to accept the conditions of employment as indicated in the announcement? (limit characters)
6. In accordance with 38 U.S.C. 7402(d), No person shall serve in direct patient care positions unless they are proficient in basic written and spoken English. Are you proficient in basic written and spoken English? (limit characters)
If you are basing your qualifications on education (or a combination of education and experience) or if the position requires a college education to qualify, you must submit a copy of your transcripts with your application. (limit characters)
Preferences
1. Which of the following items describes your current or recent (within the last five years) political appointee service?

If you responded yes to any of the items below, you will need to include a SF-50 specifying your prior service.
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By submitting your application, you are certifying, to the best of your knowledge and belief, all the information submitted by you with your application for employment is true, complete, and made in good faith, and that you have truthfully and accurately represented your work experience, knowledge, skills, abilities and education (degrees, accomplishments, etc.). The information you provide as part of your application may be investigated. You are also certifying, and acknowledging, that misrepresenting your experience or education, or providing false or fraudulent information in, or with your application, may affect your eligibility for appointment and/or continued employment. False or fraudulent statements may be punishable by fine or imprisonment (18 U.S.C. 1001). (limit characters)
Assessment 1
Thank you for your interest in the Social Worker, GS-0185-12, position with the Veterans Health Administration.

Note: Education must be verified by uploading copies of unofficial college transcripts with your resume. Experience will be verified by applicant's completing the duty section under each job history section in the resume.

Failure to upload your transcripts and/or adequately document your job experience and/or knowledge, skills, and abilities may result in disqualification of your application materials for this position.

Please read the job announcement carefully to ensure all pertinent data in included in your resume.
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Select “Yes” or “No” to the following question(s). (limit characters)
1. Basic Requirement:

English Language Proficiency:
Per VA Handbook 5005, Part II, Chapter 3, Section A, Paragraph 3j: No person will be appointed under authority of 38 U.S.C., chapter 73 or 74, to serve in a direct patient-care capacity in VHA who is not proficient in written and spoken English.

Are you proficient in spoken and written English?
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2. Basic Requirement:

Education:
Candidates must 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. Verification of the degree can be made by going to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work.

Do you have a master's degree in social work from a CSWE accredited school?

Note: A copy of your unofficial transcripts MUST be uploaded with your resume. Failure to do so may result in you being found not qualified for this position.
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3. Basic Requirement: 

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. Current state requirements may be found by going to http://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.
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Grade Determination Requirements (limit characters)
Select “Yes” or “No” to the following question(s). (limit characters)
4. GS-12 Senior Social Worker

Experience/Education.
The candidate must have 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. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice. Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty.

AND

Licensure/Certification. Senior social workers 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 they must be able to provide supervision for licensure.

AND

Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities, KSAs. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all the following KSAs:

1) Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management.
2) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
3) Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes.
4) Ability to provide specialized consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients in the service delivery area, as well as role modeling effective social work practice skills.
5) Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area


Do you currently meet all the GS-12 grade determination requirements or will you meet all of them by the time you're hired?

Note: A copy of your LCSW license MUST be uploaded with your resume, 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, must be documented under specific employment history and your GS-12 KSAs must be documented under specific employment history. Failure to do so may result in you being found not qualified for this position.
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RESUME REMINDER:

Your resume must include the following information for each job listed: Job title Duties (be as detailed as possible) Month & year start/end dates (e.g. June 2007 to April 2008) Full-time or part-time status (include hours worked per week) Series and Grade, if applicable, for all Federal positions you have held Please be aware that your answers will be verified against information provided on your resume. Be sure that your resume clearly supports your responses to all of the questions by addressing your work experience in detail. Recommended: Even though we do not require a specific resume format, your resume must be clear so that we are able to fully evaluate your qualifications. To ensure you receive appropriate consideration, please list the duties you performed under each individual job title. If we are unable to match your experiences with the positions held, you may lose consideration for this vacancy. We cannot make assumptions regarding your qualifications.
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