Social Services Assistant

This position serves as the Community Health Worker (CHW) and is responsible for leading, coordinating, facilitating and providing ongoing support to care partners (e.g., a primary family member, neighbor, or friend providing regular care to a veteran at home) engaged in care or Research protocols in the VA Health Care Systems (VAHCS) in the Mid-Atlantic Region (VISN 6).

Qualifications:

To qualify for this position, applicants must meet all requirements by the closing date of this announcement. You may qualify at the GS-5 level if you fulfill one of the following qualifications: -

Specialized Experience:

One (1) year of Specialized Experience that equipped you with the particular knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) to perform successfully the duties of the position, and that is typically in or related to the work of the Social Services Assistant position. To be creditable, specialized experience must have been equivalent to at least the GS-4 grade level.

Specialized experience includes:

communicating orally and in writing to effectively interact with clients, caregivers, and staff while preparing accurate reports and documentation; proficiently using routine methods and techniques consistent with Community Health Worker training to assist care givers and patients in identifying health priorities; effectively implementing skill-building strategies to teach and engage in problem solving; and following protocols and procedures to provide individualized help to family care givers to reduce or eliminate barriers managing social and health needs in a community setting (This includes connecting family care givers with community resources and acting as an advocate with a local team. Examples include training as community health worker, peer support specialist or other social services training). Examples of qualifying specialized experience include: group leader in community or residential recreation or training programs; counselor in a youth summer camp; instructor in a training program for the development of job skills; work that demonstrated the ability to be responsible for and to lead and train members of a job crew; group activities leader in the Armed Services; unit leader-monitor-proctor for a dormitory group in a boarding school or other residential facility; aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff in such fields as personnel (private or government), employment guidance in a vocational or academic institution, social service, or manpower development; aid or assistant to professional or associate staff engaged in work of a social services nature in private, public welfare, government program, or community organizations, or in voluntary activities; aid or assistant to professional or specialist staff working with individuals who are addicted to or abuse alcohol and/or drugs. -OR- -

Education:

Successful completion a full 4-year course of study leading to a bachelor's degree that (a) included at least 24 semester hours in any combination of subjects directly related to the work of the position; (b) included a major in social behavior, human behavior, or health care or; (c) was supplemented by specialized experience as described above for GS-4. This education must have been obtained in an accredited business or technical school, junior college, college or university for which high school graduation or the equivalent is the normal prerequisite. One year of full-time undergraduate study is defined as 30 semester hours, 45 quarter hours, or the equivalent in a college or university or at least 20 hours of classroom instruction per week for approximately 36 weeks in a business or technical school. (TRANSCRIPTS

REQUIRED

) -OR- -

Combination:

Equivalent combinations of education and specialized experience (as described above) to meet the requirements at the GS-5 level. Only education in excess of the first 60 semester hours of a course of study leading to a bachelor's degree is creditable toward meeting the specialized experience requirements. (TRANSCRIPTS

REQUIRED

) For more information on these qualification standards, please visit the United States Office of Personnel Management's website at https://www.opm.gov/policy-data-oversight/classification-qualifications/general-schedule-qualification-standards/ .