Senior Social Worker PACT

VA offers a Comprehensive TOTAL REWARD$ package.

This position is located at VA Montana Health Care Systems Great Falls VA Clinic. This Senior Social Worker PACT functions as the subject matter expert for case management and care coordination with a panel of veterans to ensure that health care meets the needs as defined by the Veteran.

Duties include but are not limited to:

• The PACT Senior Social Worker will function as lead PACT Social Worker for other PACT Social Workers on-site and for other clinical and administrative staff to address workload team assignments and documentation for PACT Social Workers onsite.
• Conducts psychosocial screens and/or assessments of the Veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team the Veteran family members and significant others.
• Participates in the creation of the Veterans treatment plan with special attention to the psychosocial elements of the treatment plan and identifies needed psychosocial interventions.
• Reviews psychosocial treatment goals as well as evaluations of the effectiveness of services provided through reviewing outcome measures and makes appropriate modifications as identified by these evaluations to ensure the provision of high-quality care and interventions.
• Completes Violence Risk Assessments for VAMTHCS employees via referral of the Program Management of Disruptive Behavior as well as Safe at Home Assessments for veterans through the Intimate Partner Violence Program.
• Ensures and links Veterans and caregivers to supportive and ancillary services which include but are not limited to temporary lodging travel and special mode transportation.
• Collaborates with other providers in on-going reassessment of the Veteran s health care needs and treatment planning.
• Coordinates with interdisciplinary team members the Veteran and caregivers to proactively address discharge needs to include but not limited to home care services supplies equipment medications and related patient care needs and services.
• Provides specialized health and psychosocial education services to the Veteran family and/or caregivers. Education services include but are not limited to disease education diagnosis and treatment options acute symptom management chronic disease management medication health promotion and self-care interventions VA and community resources
  benefits and entitlements and Advance Health Care Planning (Advanced Directives Living Wills Power of Attorney for Health Care and related documents).
• Provides leadership direction orientation coaching in-service training staff development and continuing education programs for assigned social work staff.
• Serve on committees work groups and task forces at the facility VISN and national level or in the community as deemed appropriate by the PACT Supervisor Social Work Executive or Chief of Social Work Services.
• Assists in developing policies and procedures for program operation and may help prepare reports and statistics for facility VISN and national use.
• Develops and implements information systems to track service activities including visits clinical data treatment interventions and outcomes referrals patient demographics equipment utilization and patient satisfaction; and develops implements and evaluates clinical guidelines and protocols to establish appropriate utilization of services.
• Conduct training for staff and trainees as needed with SW scope of practice; will provide education information and liaison with resources for Veterans in the community; and will provide technical assistance and educational sessions to community organizations as needed.

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• 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.
• 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 drivers 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).
• Complete all application requirements detailed in the Required Documents section of this announcement.

• your performance and conduct;
• the needs and interests of the agency;
• whether your continued employment would advance organizational goals of the agency or the Government; and
• whether your continued employment would advance the efficiency of the Federal service.

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. Be a citizen of the United States. (Non-citizens may be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens).

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

Education. Have a masters 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 masters degree in social work. Verification of the degree can be made by going to to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of 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 masters degree level.

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 DETERMINATON GS-12.
Experience/Education.
The candidate must have at least two (2) 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.

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.

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

• 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.
• Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.