Senior Social Worker- Pain Management

Senior Social Worker- Pain Management

Department: Department of Veterans Affairs

Location(s): Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania

Salary Range: $88621 - $115213 Per Year

Job Summary: The Senior Social Worker practices within the Wilkes-Barre VAMC Pain Management Clinic providing inpatient and outpatient services. These services include intake, assessment, case management, advocacy, treatment, coordination of care and discharge planning with appropriate VA and community service providers and agencies as needed and directed by the Veteran. The Senior Social Worker serves a patient population with highly complex pain, mental health, and substance use comorbidities.

Major Duties:

• The incumbent has advanced and expert skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management interventions used in the treatment of veterans with chronic pain, and/or other complex physical or medical illness, and/or mental health and substance use needs. Develops and implements methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the area of chronic pain and cancer related pain utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services. Incumbent is able to demonstrate the ability to design changes based on empirical findings. Offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in the specialty area, rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. Demonstrates the ability to teach and mentor staff and students in the special area of practice and to provide supervision for licensure or specialty certifications. As a member of a Pain Team, the incumbent works independently using his/her 2 educational training, clinical experience, VA policies, and TJC standards in administering direct services. The Senior Social Worker is to provide supportive counseling and appropriate case management services to reduce the Veteran's stress and maximize psychosocial wellbeing throughout all phases of their medical treatment and care. The incumbent has the ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment of veteran patients, including making psychosocial and psychiatric diagnoses within approved clinical privileges. Incumbent develops treatment plans in collaboration with the veteran/family and with the interdisciplinary treatment team. The treatment plan will be reviewed during therapeutic sessions and reassessed as appropriate. Specific tasks may include: Assessing the patient's understanding of their diagnoses and proposed treatments Education/instruction regarding self-relaxation and other coping strategies Assessing treatment options when factoring in work, family, and the Veteran's other obligations Active in the facility Pain Management Review Team Providing referrals and linkage to community agencies with specialized benefits Counseling individuals, couples, and families or referrals to specialized mental health providers Linkages to appropriate support groups and educational programs Interagency collaboration when Veteran's care involves multiple entities Facilitating communication between the treatment team, Veteran, and Family, including advocacy Facilitating family discussions about illness, healthcare and life changes Providing education related to the patient's VA, Social Security, and disability benefits Providing education or referrals for required transportation to/from treatments at the VA or community programs, including needs of rural veterans Participation in the facility high risk and overdose review teams Referral to, and coordination of, substance use disorder clinical services Addressing the impact of chronic pain on life issues Offers consultation to colleagues and students on the psychosocial treatment of patients treated in the specialty medical programs area rendering professional opinions based on experience and expertise and role modeling effective social work practice skills. The Social Worker will participate in and conduct meetings with Community partners/case managers in the community and at medical center. The Social Worker will provide education to medical providers, mental health providers and staff in general regarding the role of the social worker in the Pain Clinic and roles associated with treatment of complex pain and cancer related pain The Social Worker performs other related duties as assigned Preferred Experience: Working in a team environment on a medical team as a social worker. Pain management experience preferred Work Schedule: 08:00am - 4:30pm Monday - Friday Telework: Available Virtual: This is not a virtual position. Permanent Change of Station (PCS): Not authorized Financial Disclosure Report: Not required

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. English Language Proficiency: Written and Spoken Physical Standards: All applicants must meet the physical standards for the position. A physical examination prior to employment may be required. QUALIFICATIONS REQUIREMENT: Meets the qualification standard for the GS 12 Senior Social Worker as defined in VA Handbook 5005, Part II Appendix G39, Social Worker Qualification Standard GS-185 Veteran Health Administration. Social Worker, GS-12 Experience and Licensure. The candidate must have at least two years of experience post advanced practice clinical licensure and should be in a specialized area of social work practice of which, one year must be equivalent to the GS-11 grade level. Senior social workers have experience that demonstrates possession of advanced practice skills and judgment. Senior social workers are experts in their specialized area of practice. Senior social workers may have certification or other post-masters training from a nationally recognized professional organization or university that includes a defined curriculum/course of study and internship or equivalent supervised professional experience in a specialty. Licensure/Certification. Senior social workers must be licensed or certified by a state at the advanced practice level which included an advanced generalist or clinical examination, unless they are grandfathered by the state in which they are licensed to practice at the advanced practice level (except for licenses issued in California, which administers its own clinical examination for advanced practice) and they must be able to provide supervision for licensure. Demonstrated Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities. In addition to the experience above, candidates must demonstrate all of the following KSAs: (a) Skill in a range of specialized interventions and treatment modalities used in specialty treatment programs or with special patient populations. This includes individual, group, and/or family counseling or psychotherapy and advanced level psychosocial and/or case management. (b) Ability to incorporate complex multiple causation in differential diagnosis and treatment within approved clinical privileges or scope of practice. (c) Knowledge in developing and implementing methods for measuring effectiveness of social work practice and services in the specialty area, utilizing outcome evaluations to improve treatment services and to design system changes. (d) Ability to provide 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. (e) Ability to expand clinical knowledge in the social work profession, and to write policies, procedures, and/or practice guidelines pertaining to the service delivery area.

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 01/05/2026 to receive consideration. To preview the questionnaire click https://apply.usastaffing.gov/ViewQuestionnaire/12856106. 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.To verify your application is complete, log into your USA JOBS account, https://my.usajobs.gov/Account/Login, select the Application Status link and then select the more information link for this position. The Details page will display the status of your application, the documentation received and processed, and any correspondence the agency has sent related to this application. Your uploaded documents may take several hours to clear the virus scan process. To return to an incomplete application, log into your USA JOBS account and click Update Application in the vacancy announcement. You must re-select your resume and/or other documents from your USA JOBS account or your application will be incomplete.

Application Deadline: 2026-01-05