Social Worker   Hurlburt Field, FL

Hurlburt Field is in the western Florida Panhandle, located about eight miles southwest of Valparaiso in Okaloosa County. This is a military-friendly area, retirement and a major tourist attraction due to the white sandy beaches and emerald green waters. Okaloosa County is a relatively high cost of living area and has relatively low wages. Hurlburt Field is located 8 miles Northwest of Fort Walton Beach, 60 miles East of Pensacola and 65 miles West of Panama City. Fort Walton Beach experiences hot and very humid summers, generally from late May to mid-September. Autumns, from mid-September to early December, are generally warm. Winters are very short and mild, from mid-December to late February. Springs are warm, from late February to late May. Fort Walton Beach averages 55.35 inches of rain each year. The wettest season is summer and the driest season is autumn, although flood season continues into autumn.

Working for the Department of Defense comes with an abundance of benefits and perks to include competitive compensation packages, paid-time off, medical benefits, student loan repayments, and retirement package with Thrift Savings Plan to include matching employer contributions. For more information, please visit the following link: https://www.usajobs.gov/Help/working-in-government/benefits/

The primary purpose of this position is to provide professional clinical social work services in support of mental health programs for the installation’s Mental Health unit and Military Treatment Facility (MTF). Designs, develops, maintains, implements, and evaluates clinical social work service programs for the Mental Health unit. Serves as the installation subject matter expert (SME) for clinical social work providing consultation to installation leadership and medical professionals regarding needs assessment, determining clinical intervention requirements, and developing implementation strategies. Provides a full range of professional clinical social work and therapeutic services for eligible beneficiaries. Performs risk and clinical diagnostic assessments, evidenced-based psychotherapy, case management, and crisis intervention to prevent and treat mental health and other emotional or behavioral conditions serving beneficiaries.

MAJOR DUTIES:

Designs, develops, maintains, implements, and evaluates clinical social work service programs for the installation Mental Health unit and MTF. Serves as the installation clinical social work subject matter expert (SME) by providing consultation to installation leadership and medical professionals regarding clinical needs assessment, determining clinical intervention requirements, and developing implementation strategies. Responsible for triage, safety planning, treatment planning, and establishment of treatment goals for the installation mental health programs at large and tailored to individual clients. These initiatives mitigate identified hazards and barriers to optimal health and performance, to enhance resiliency, promote emotional and mental well-being, and mission readiness. Determines appropriate treatment modalities and interventions for mental health disorders and other emotional and behavioral conditions in accordance with DoD, agency, and professional social work standard of care practices. Develops and implements a formal evaluation process to monitor clinical social work intervention services, evaluating self and other professional medical staff and adjusting service delivery to maximize clinical treatment impact. Serves as a key facilitator and team coordinator for the full spectrum of clinical social work services. Designs and/or collaborates on special programs and services with local, state, and federal partners, to evaluate, enhance, and improve service delivery. Directs clinical social work practices in cases with complex problems, organizes and liaises with community services (e.g., chain of command, local law enforcement, investigative agencies, medical authorities, local medical facilities, and/or child protection services) on or off the installation on behalf of clients, and coordinates procedures for use of these community services by related staff and satellite facilities.

Applies professional knowledge of the principles, theories, procedures, and practices of social work to conduct intake evaluations on a routine and emergency basis in accordance with applicable agency and DoD guidelines. Conducts comprehensive psycho-diagnostic evaluations to address complex (interrelated biopsychoscocial) diagnostic and treatment issues. Prepares written evaluation reports with clinical impressions and recommendations. Accomplishes clinical intake interviews with patients, to include family history, biopsychosocial history, developmental history, risk and protective factors, and presenting problems together with any relevant secondary information. Social assessments may include financial, adaptive, social functioning of family, social relationships and situations, and any other contributory information. Assesses individuals to explore the development of behavior patterns, mechanisms, and symptoms. Determines the facts concerning patients’ problems and the underlying causes to assess the needs of the individual and/or family. Uses and interprets various psychological assessment measures. Integrates findings and formulates clinical impressions to establish mental health diagnosis using guidelines such as the current edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association. Performs suicide, homicide, and violence assessments to determine degree of risk. Documents care in patients’ medical records using the appropriate subjective, objective, assessment, and plan (SOAP) format. Screens records and personnel for security clearances and makes administrative recommendations. Rotates with other providers to assess acute/walk-in patients, cover on-call duties after clinic hours, and provide consultation for emergent and urgent mental health and family maltreatment cases. Works with line operational units with embedded mental health professionals to address mental health factors impacting human performance, such as suicide, post-traumatic stress, traumatic brain injuries, and anxiety disorders. Responsible for knowledge of, and practice according to, state and professional licensing and ethical practice guidelines. Assumes professional responsibility for findings, interpretations, decisions, recommendations, reports, and services.

Provides evidence-based psychotherapy for a wide variety of complex psychiatric/social problems. Establishes treatment plans, annotates adjustments to treatment plans as required over the course of therapy. Treatment plans identify the patient’s problems, strengths, weaknesses, coping skills, and assistance needed. Applies multiple therapeutic techniques including individual, group, couples, family, supportive, crisis intervention, and behavioral therapies or other recognized treatment strategies based upon accepted theories, principles, and practices of clinical social work. Provides a wide range of therapeutic measures that are geared toward securing cognitive and behavioral adjustments by recognizing and resolving problems relating to the patient’s attitude toward themselves, family, and others. Evaluates effectiveness of the therapeutic measures and adjusts or modifies the treatment plan accordingly. Ensures treatment documentation meets the standards of the Joint Commission (TJC), AAAHC, or other MTF-sanctioned accreditation agency for patient care. Participates as a full member of multidisciplinary treatment teams in formulating and implementing patient treatment plans. Promotes and preserves a psychotherapeutic atmosphere among the professional treatment team.

Provides psychological consultation, education, and training to other mental health professionals, medical staff, military commanders/senior leaders, and other DoD and civilian providers. Provides unit and command consultation, leadership development and performance enhancement. Develops, delivers, and conducts psychoeducational training on topics related to clinical social work, mental health, and other emotional and behavioral conditions both within the clinic and in operational units and provides feedback and recommendations to the flight leadership on future initiatives. Leads complex multidisciplinary case management teams (comprised of allied health partners, paraprofessional staff/provider extenders, case managers, and administrative staff). Provides clinical oversight to unlicensed professionals, such as mental health technicians. Reviews clinical documentation of unlicensed professionals, co-signs treatment notes, and oversees onboarding and training of embedded mental health professionals to enable their full operational capability. Develops and delivers training to equip embedded mental health professionals in operational units to perform a range of duties including unit circulation (field assessment of unit risks); command consultation (vectors leadership and providers to shape unit climate and engage as a critical member of the unit leadership team); in-unit counseling; building and delivering education/training programs based on the needs and commander direction; delivering team building within the units (relationship counseling for flights or branches of the unit); and resourcing/referring for both uniformed personnel and civilian personnel assigned to the unit. Provides training to mental health staff, to include mental health technicians, interns, and residents, in regard to conducting intake evaluations, administering and scoring selected psycho-social assessments, offering brief psychological and psycho-social interventions, and co-facilitating group therapy. Continues professional development and maintains awareness of cutting-edge modalities and techniques of behavioral health care through such activities as continuing education, attendance at conferences, participation in professional organizations, or societies, and independent study. May be tasked to participate or lead special projects such as conducting audits of patients’ records, gathering utilization data, or using such data to evaluate quality of care provided.

PERFORMS OTHER DUTIES AS ASSIGNED.

Basic Requirements:

US Citizenship required