Social Worker (Program Manager) Mental Health

VA Careers - Social Work: Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Duties include but not limited to:

Clinical Responsibilities:

• Provide a wide range of psychological assessment services including expert assessment and diagnostic services for Veterans experiencing impairment associated with symptoms of severe mental illness
• Provide treatment/rehabilitation services for Veterans with a wide range of problems including in-person and virtual individual and group therapy family/relationship counseling and psychoeducation
• Provide recovery-oriented evidenced based interventions for serious mental illness and co-occurring substance use disorders. Examples of these interventions include but are not limited to: Social Skills Training (SST) CBT for depression and motivational enhancement therapy.
• Provides recovery-oriented treatment with the goal of establishing the Veteran independently in the community at the Veterans highest level of functioning and quality of life.
• Serves as Recovery Coach for Veterans enrolled in the PRRC.

• 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.
• 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:

• United States Citizenship: Non-citizens may only be appointed when it is not possible to recruit qualified citizens in accordance with VA Policy.
• English Language Proficiency. Candidates must be proficient in spoken and written English to be appointed as authorized by 38 U.S.C. 7403(f).
• 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. Current state requirements may be found by going to http:// 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.

• Skill in coordinating and implementing one or more specialty program(s) across the facility.
• Skill in local policy and practice development procedures and/or practice guidelines for the program as prescribed by the program handbook or national directive.
• Skill in organizing work setting priorities meeting multiple deadlines and evaluating assigned program area(s).
• Ability to collaborate with internal and external partners to further program goals and enhance patient centered care.
• Ability to provide the full range of supervisory duties including assignment of work to be performed; performance evaluations; and selection of staff training and recommendation of awards advancements and when appropriate disciplinary action.
• Ability to oversee the fiscal matters of the functions supervised (including fund controls contracts and equipment expenditures) forecast resource and equipment needs and administer the allocated budget.
• Knowledge of organizational structure and impact on program operations.

• At least two years of supervising employees
• At least two years experience with serious mental illness patients