Senior Social Worker

Quick Facts

• Role: Senior Social Worker (GS-12)
• Setting: Outpatient mental health clinic
• Schedule: Monday–Friday, 0700–1700 (flexible)
• Location: Oceanside Clinic
• Loan repayment: EDRP eligible (apply within 4 months of appointment; up to $200,000; eligibility period 1–5 years)

Description

As a Senior Social Worker, you will deliver specialized outpatient treatment for Veterans with complex mental illness, using advanced psychotherapy and psychosocial case management. You will conduct biopsychosocial assessments, support differential diagnosis and treatment planning, coordinate referrals and care across the continuum, and help improve services through outcome evaluation. The role also includes consultation, teaching, mentoring, and supervision for licensure or specialty certification.

Responsibilities

• Screen mental health consults and complete biopsychosocial assessments
• Provide individual, group, and family psychotherapy
• Set treatment goals/plans; complete advanced psychosocial and psychiatric diagnosis within scope of practice
• Coordinate referrals, specialty services, resource utilization, advocacy, and crisis intervention
• Provide supportive counseling, education, and prevention
• Deliver advanced case management and care coordination; coordinate with inpatient treatment teams as needed
• Participate in mental health clinic program planning and collaborate with clinic staff/teams
• Develop and implement outcome evaluation methods to measure effectiveness and design service improvements
• Consult with colleagues and students; role-model effective social work practice
• Teach/mentor staff and students and provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications

Requirements

• U.S. citizenship
• Master’s degree in Social Work from a CSWE-accredited program
• State licensure/certification to independently practice at the master’s level
• Advanced practice-level licensure/certification for Senior Social Worker (with experience meeting GS-12 requirements)
• At least 2 years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure; at least 1 year equivalent to GS-11 specialized practice
• Demonstrated KSAs including advanced specialized interventions, differential diagnosis using complex causation, and outcome measurement/evaluation
• Ability to provide supervision for licensure
• Proficiency in written and spoken English
• Pass background/security investigation and pre-employment physical evaluation
• Complete onboarding and required application documentation; 1–2-year trial period after hire

Benefits

• Competitive salary and regular salary increases
• Paid time off: 37–50 days annually (annual leave, sick leave, federal holidays)
• Parental leave after 12 months (up to 12 weeks paid)
• Child care subsidy after 60 days (income-based; up to 25% of eligible costs, up to $416.66/month)
• Retirement: traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K (up to 5% contributions)
• Federal insurance options: health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care
• Eligibility for additional federal benefits depends on position type

EDRP (Education Debt Reduction Program)

• Eligible to apply if you meet VA policy eligibility requirements
• Must submit the EDRP application within 4 months of appointment
• Award amount up to $200,000; eligibility period 1–5 years determined after complete review
• Former EDRP participants are not eligible to apply for incentive