Social Work Relocation Jobs in Texas (NOW HIRING)

Summary
This position is eligible for the Education Debt Reduction Program (EDRP), a student loan payment reimbursement program. You must meet specific individual eligibility requirements in accordance with VHA policy and submit your EDRP application within four months of appointment. Program Approval, award amount (up to $200,000) and eligibility period (one to five years) are determined by the VHA Education Loan Repayment Services program office after complete review of the EDRP application.
Learn more about this agency
Duties
Help
Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional
This position is for a Social Worker assigned to the West Texas VA Health Care System Patient Aligned Care Team. This position uses a high levelof skill in assessing and treating the complicated psychosocial problems of veterans. Social Work responsibilities include the assessment of psychosocial problems, often at a time when the Veteran is experiencing crisis and include the provision of short-term, solution-focused counseling with veterans and/or their family members/significant others. Referrals typically originate from members of the interdisciplinary team, from Veterans and/or their family members/significant others coming as walk-ins to seek assistance, and from community professionals.
Duties include but are not limited to:

• Completes an assessment of the Veteran in collaboration with the interdisciplinary treatment team, the Veteran, family members and significant others.
• Contributes to the development of the treatment plan and setting achievable treatment goals with the Veteran and family members/caregiver.
• Uses the current Social Work resource file of VA and community social service programs and enhances the content to the benefit of veterans.
• Understands the difficulty of bureaucracy and acts as an advocate when it serves the best interest of the Veteran and family members/caregiver
• Makes rapid assessments and develops crisis management plans.
• Provides education related to VA and community resources, entitlements, Advance Directives/Living Will and will refer Veterans and family members/caregiver to the appropriate interdisciplinary team member for identified health education needs.
• Reviews the progress notes from other providers to accurately determine the strengths and limitations of each Veteran.
• Educates the Veteran, their family members/caregiver and the team of all the options available to them and will collaborate with the Veteran and family members/caregiver on the preferred option.
• Responsible for the monitoring of, and discharge planning for, Veterans assigned to the PACT Team while Veterans are hospitalized in any number of local medical facilities. This includes on- site review and assessment at local facilities when appropriate and necessary.
• Provides the Veterans and their family members/caregiver with ongoing supportive counseling. The purpose of such counseling is to deal with the psychosocial impact of coping with chronic/disabling illness (es), onset of a catastrophic illness mental illness (es), etc.
• Enters all Veteran/family contacts in the electronic record using appropriate formats and templates.
• Establishes and maintain positive working relationships with employees, volunteers, consumers and stakeholders within the VA and outside community agencies.
• Attends all appropriate staff meetings (interdisciplinary treatment team meetings, Social Work staff meetings, Social Work supervision meetings, and other committees and workgroups, as appropriate) and perform other duties as required.

Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 08:00am - 04:30pm.
Recruitment/Relocation Incentives (Sign-on Bonus): Not Authorized.
Permanent Change of Station (Relocation Assistance): Not Authorized.
EDRP Authorized: Former EDRP participants ineligible to apply for incentive. Contact VHAEDRPProgramSupport@va.gov, the EDRP Coordinator for questions/assistance. Learn more
Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases. When setting pay, a higher step rate of the appropriate grade may be determined after consideration of higher or unique qualifications or special needs of the VA (Above Minimum Rate of the Grade).
Paid Time Off: 37-50 days of annual paid time offer per year (13-26 days of annual leave, 13 days of sick leave, 11 paid Federal holidays per year)
Parental Leave: After 12 months of employment, up to 12 weeks of paid parental leave in connection with the birth, adoption, or foster care placement of a child.
Child Care Subsidy: After 60 days of employment, full time employees with a total family income below $144,000 may be eligible for a childcare subsidy up to 25% of total eligible childcare costs for eligible children up to the monthly maximum of $416.66
Retirement: Traditional federal pension (5 years vesting) and federal 401K with up to 5% in contributions by VA
Insurance: Federal health/vision/dental/term life/long-term care (many federal insurance programs can be carried into retirement)
Telework: Ad-Hoc Telework Authorized.
Virtual: This is not a virtual position.
Functional Statement #: 52930-F
Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not Authorized
Requirements
Help
Conditions of employment

• 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 (https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central/form-i-9-acceptable-documents). Effective May 7, 2025, driver's 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 evaluation/examination.
• Must possess a current and valid driver's license.
• 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.

As a condition of employment for accepting this position, you will be required to serve a 1 or 2-year trial period during which we will evaluate your fitness and whether your continued employment advances the public interest. In determining if your employment advances the public interest, we may consider:

• 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.

Upon completion of your trial period, your employment will be terminated unless you receive certification, in writing, that your continued employment advances the public interest.
Qualifications
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.
• Education. 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 tohttp://www.cswe.org/Accreditation 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 master's degree level. Current state requirements may be found by going tohttp://vaww.va.gov/OHRM/T38Hybrid/.

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 Determinations: In addition to the basic requirements for employment, the following criteria must be met.

• For GS-11:
  
  • Experience and Licensure. Appointment to the GS-11 grade level requires completion of a minimum of one year of post-MSW experience equivalent to the GS-9 grade level in the field of health care or other social work-related settings, (VA or non VA experience) and licensure or certification in a state at the independent practice level.
  • Education. In addition to meeting basic requirements, a doctoral degree in social work from a school of social work may be substituted for the required one year of professional social work experience in a clinical setting.
  • Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs:
    
    • 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, 8 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.

Preferred Experience:

• Ability to engage and perform at the basic level of direct case management and crisis intervention.
• Knowledge and ability to complete Psychosocial assessment or Biopsychosocial assessment, Treatment Plan, and/or Plan of Action Development.
• Ability to Engage, Advocate, Collaborate, Practice, and Coordinate with interdisciplinary teams as well as other services and disciplines within the VHA or in the Community and assist with discharges of Veterans from community inpatient facilities to close the gap of services for Veterans.
• Ability to discuss and complete Advance Directives and engage in further discussions with Veteran and families around Patient Care Priorities Advanced Care Planning, End of Life Discussions, etc.

Reference: For more information on this qualification standard, please visit https://www.va.gov/ohrm/QualificationStandards/.
The full performance level of this vacancy is GS-11. The actual grade at which an applicant may be selected for this vacancy is GS-11.
Physical Requirements: A pre-placement examination will be required to be able to determine if the incumbent is able to safely operate a Government Vehicle.
Education
Note: Only education or degrees recognized by the U.S. Department of Education from accredited colleges, universities, schools, or institutions may be used to qualify for Federal employment. You can verify your education here: http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/. If you are using foreign education to meet qualification requirements, you must send a Certificate of Foreign Equivalency with your transcript in order to receive credit for that education. For further information, visit: https://sites.ed.gov/international/recognition-of-foreign-qualifications/.
IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application if you are basing all or part of your qualifications on education.
If your school has changed names, or is no longer in existence, you must provide this information in your application.
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.
If your school was accredited by the Council on Social Work Education (CSWE) at the time of graduation but is no longer listed on the CSWE website, you must provide documentation of accreditation with your application packet. 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.
Additional information
During the application process you may have an option to opt-in to make your resume available to hiring managers in the agency who have similar positions. Opting in does not impact your application for this announcement, nor does it guarantee further consideration for additional positions.
This job opportunity announcement may be used to fill additional vacancies.
This position is in the Excepted Service and does not confer competitive status.
VA encourages persons with disabilities to apply. The health-related positions in VA are covered by Title 38, a