Senior Social Worker - Acute Medicine/Surgery

Summary

The Senior Social Worker is assigned to the acute medicine/surgery unit at the Gainesville VA Medical Center, located on site in Gainesville, Florida. The Senior Social Worker is responsible for providing assessment, discharge planning, and crisis intervention services to Veterans, their families/caregivers on the acute care medicine, surgery, neurology, intensive care inpatient units, emergency department and outpatient clinics.

Duties

The Senior Social Worker is primarily responsible for providing psychosocial and mental health assessment, diagnosis, treatment planning/execution, care management, case management, crisis intervention and evidence-based psychotherapy services to Veterans, their family members and caregivers in within Acute Medicine-Surgery units. Duties for this position include but are not limited to: Receives referrals from a variety of sources to include triage, consults, walk-in visits, phone calls, and warm hand-offs from internal/external stakeholders. The Senior Social Worker is required to utilize available data sources to proactively identify patients for screening/triage, assessment, treatment planning, case management and care coordination. Provides crisis intervention services, seeking to address the cause as well as presenting complaint, coordinates family conferences and serves as a liaison to family members/caregivers. The Senior Social Worker has working knowledge and experience in use of medical and mental health diagnoses, disabilities, and treatment procedures. This includes acute, chronic, and traumatic illnesses/injuries, mental health conditions, and common medical terminology. Independently conducts psychosocial and behavioral health/mental health assessments, can provide accurate diagnosis using most current version of the DSM. Measures outcomes of interventions to improve treatment services. The Senior Social Worker designs changes based on empirical/measurement-based care and other findings. Utilizes clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and writes policies, standard operating procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area. Proactively addresses advance directive education and facilitates completion and proper documentation and record scanning to ensure clear and accurate information regarding the Veterans' wishes are available in the electronic health record. Serves as a subject matter expert for clinical social work practice/processes within the Acute Medicine-Surgery units. Provides 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. Provides orientation and training for new clinical social work staff. Provides licensure supervision for unlicensed staff to become licensed in accordance with State laws and VA policy/standard operating procedures. Teaches, mentors and coaches MSW students in specialty area and provides supervision for licensure and participates in the MSW student training program. Uses advanced practice knowledge and experience to assist with training front line staff as well as providing clinical supervision for unlicensed Social Workers. Required to travel on a regular basis to other locations of care within the North Florida / South Georgia Veterans Health System to carry out job duties/assignments, as well as, required to drive and/or travel using personal or government vehicle to other sites of care between the 2 main hospitals in Gainesville and Lake City or to community partners as necessary. Travel will be for long periods of time, up to three hours each way with traffic and expected at least 25% of work week. This position may include weekends and evening hours and requires the ability to make decisions and complete work assignments within the program area, with very limited or no direct supervision. Work Schedule: Friday to Monday 7:30am - 6:00pm (weekend shift - 4 10 hour shifts) Recruitment Incentive (Sign-on Bonus): Not authorized Telework: Not available Virtual: This is not a virtual position Functional Statement #: 51920F Additional Benefits 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) Pay: Competitive salary and regular salary increases 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. Total Rewards of a Allied Health Professional

Requirements

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. 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 and evaluation

This occupation is listed on the Office of the Chief Human Capital Officer (OCHCO) Bulletin - Annual Determination of Staffing Shortages - September 25, 2025. Therefore, this vacancy announcement is EXEMPT from Veterans Preference. IN DESCRIBING YOUR EXPERIENCE, PLEASE BE CLEAR AND SPECIFIC. WE MAY NOT MAKE ASSUMPTIONS REGARDING YOUR EXPERIENCE. Your application, resume, C.V., and/or supporting documentation will be verified. Please follow all instructions carefully. Errors or omissions may affect consideration for employment. Experience refers to paid and unpaid experience, including volunteer work done through National Service programs (e.g., Peace Corps, AmeriCorps) and other organizations (e.g., professional; philanthropic; religions; spiritual; community; student; social). Volunteer work helps build critical competencies, knowledge, and skills and can provide valuable training and experience that translates directly to paid employment. You will receive credit for all qualifying experience, including volunteer experience. The Department of Veterans Affairs performs pre-employment reference checks as an assessment method used in the hiring process to verify information provided by a candidate (e.g., on resume or during interview or hiring process); gain additional knowledge regarding a candidate's abilities; and assist a hiring manager with making a final selection for a position. It is the policy of the VA to not deny employment to those that have faced financial hardships or periods of unemployment. Veterans and Transitioning Service Members: Please visit the VA for Vets site for career-search tools for Veterans seeking employment at VA, career development services for our existing Veterans, and coaching and reintegration support for military service members. Area of Consideration - Eligible applications will be reviewed and referred in the following order: 1. Current permanent VA employees of the facility. 2. All other VA employees. 3. Current permanent Federal employees of other agencies. 4. All other applicants. Note: Veterans' Preference does not apply to this occupation, effective 9/25/25.

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 to http://www.cswe.org/Accreditation to verify that the social work degree meets the accreditation standards for a masters of social work. IMPORTANT: A transcript must be submitted with your application. 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/.

How to apply

All applicants are encouraged to apply online. To apply for this position, you must complete the full questionnaire and submit the documentation specified in the Required Documents section below. The complete application package must be submitted by 11:59 PM (ET) on 09/10/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/13051112. To begin, click Apply Online to create a USAJOBS account or log in to your existing account. Follow the prompts to select your USA JOBS resume and/or other supporting documents and complete the occupational questionnaire. Click Submit My Answers to submit your application package. NOTE: It is your responsibility to ensure your responses and appropriate documentation is submitted prior to the closing date.

Required documents

To apply for this position, you must provide a complete Application Package which includes: Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV) Advanced Licensure Transcript The following documents are accepted, and may be required if applicable to your eligibility and/or qualifications for this position. Please ensure you have included all documents required for your application, such as a copy of your transcript (if using education to qualify), SF-50's (current/former Federal employees), etc. Cover Letter DD-214/ Statement of Service Disability Letter (VA) Long-form resume/Curriculum vitae (CV) Advanced Licensure Professional Certification SF-15 SF-50/ Notification of Personnel Action Transcript

Additional information

Receiving Service Credit for Earning Annual (Vacation) Leave: Federal Employees earn annual leave at a rate (4, 6 or 8 hours per pay period) which is based on the number of years they have served as a Federal employee. Selected applicants may qualify for credit toward annual leave accrual, based on prior work experience or military service experience. This credited service can be used in determining the rate at which they earn annual leave. Such credit must be requested and approved prior to the appointment date and is not guaranteed. 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, and are not covered by the Schedule A excepted appointment authority. If you are unable to apply online or need an alternate method to submit documents, please reach out to the Agency Contact listed in this Job Opportunity Announcement. Under the Fair Chance to Compete Act, the Department of Veterans Affairs prohibits requesting an applicant's criminal history prior to accepting a tentative job offer. For more information about the Act and the complaint process, visit Human Resources and Administration/Operations, Security, and Preparedness (HRA/OSP) at The Fair Chance Act.