Social Worker (Palliative)

Duties may include but are not limited to:
- Assists Veterans served in the Palliative care clinics to navigate care facilitate access and follow-up. Additionally provides coordination of care within the Palliative Care system as well as Patient Aligned Care Team (PACT) inpatient medicine and other services within the health care system.
- Provides clinical social work services to the Palliative outpatient clinics as determined by patient care needs.
- Provides education about resources to Veterans and Caregivers receiving services in the Palliative Care clinics.
- Completes assessments via phone VA Video Connect (VVC) or face to face.
- Formulates treatment plans including measurable achievable goals which identify the Veterans needs strengths weaknesses coping skills and psychosocial acuity.
- Establishes and maintains professional interactions and relationships with stakeholders both within the VA and the Community with focus on population served in the specialty clinic.
- Utilizes case management and care coordination to assist assigned Veterans.
- Facilitates action for community placements through collaboration with Veterans and their families as well as interdisciplinary treatment team members to ensure that appropriate community placements are completed in a timely manner.
- Serves as a liaison between Veterans and/or their families and VA and community resources in order to ensure thorough delivery of services.
- Identifies family and caregiver stressors through assessment and provides specific interventions to address.
- Provides consultation to other treatment teams and staff members regarding psychosocial needs of Veterans and/or their families and the impact of the identified psychosocial problems on the Veterans health care planning and compliance with treatment.

Work Schedule: Monday to Friday 8:00a.m. to 4:30p.m.
Telework: Ad-hoc
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 56031-F/56030-F
Relocation/Recruitment Incentives: Not Authorized
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized

• You must be a U.S. Citizen to apply for this job.
• 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.
• 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.
• Pre-Employment/Post-Employment Physical Examination: May be required depending on the needs of the organization

• 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 - 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 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. Note: A doctoral degree in Social Work may NOT be substituted for the masters degree in Social Work.
License or Certification* - You must be licensed or certified by a state to independently practice social work at the masters 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 masters 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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.

• Ability to utilize a Veteran centric approach when providing interventions and counseling for Veterans their family members caregivers and survivors.
• 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.

• 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 educational and other 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.