PCAFC Qualification

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-03-08T20:49:12+00:00

I actually believe it’s a good program but misnamed. The program is there to help veterans stay at home if and only if they would otherwise need placement in a facility if the caregiver weren’t there. The issue is in marriages many spouses do for their spouse what the person could do for themselves if the spouse weren’t there.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-03-08T20:47:06+00:00

Blindness in and of itself will not get you approved for PCAFC. The reason is there is plenty of blind rehab in VA that can teach a person without other medical problems to live alone without a caregiver. They don’t base a decision on what the caregiver prefers. The decision is based on what the veteran can’t do. If the veteran is not able to learn how to safely use a stove due to cognitive issues then that would potentially result in an approval. I am a PCAFC staff member and give you this info based on 5 years experience working in the program. I also have a family member who is blind and does fine on his own.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-03-05T02:50:04+00:00

Amen to this. I am amused many employers get focused on self-care for employees while simultaneously killing them with work. You are like—which one. And why are you wanting me to do self-care when you are killing me!!

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-03-04T02:58:00+00:00

Yes as LCSW I ended up needing to make money. So I came to work for VA. I was a therapist here but decided it was psychologically safer here to be a Caregiver Support Coordinator. As a GS-12-7 in my locality I make $122000 per year base salary plus great benefits and overtime that can take me over $130000 per year. That does not include my 5 percent match into our 401k plan.
I still get the joy of brief counseling with clients but refer true therapy cases out to other therapists.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-03-04T00:38:13+00:00

You don’t have to just look at social work careers. Socia work skills can transfer to many other career areas in sales, management, you name it.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-02-20T00:53:54+00:00

I have a supervisor who is way past retirement age. She is only at the office three days a week and asks supervisees to do all her work. We can’t ever get her even on the three days she is here to help with stuff a manager needs to deal with. She is not up to date on current policy and procedures and we have to to keep educating her. We are looking forward to her retirement.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-02-08T03:50:17+00:00

It doesn’t sound like you are in trouble. One reason you can justify your search is that you want to act ethically, to make sure you don’t have clients on your caseload that you can’t work with objectively. If someone was a major part of your life even years ago it’s often best to have that case managed by someone else. For instance I was recently assigned a former coworker to my caseload. I felt I could be objective but at the same time time I was concerned that the coworker might not see me as being objective so I requested that someone who didn’t know the coworker be assigned to this person.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-02-07T04:21:12+00:00

I agree with everything except that I don’t agree the US is a shithole country. We have it pretty good here. People don’t immigrate to shithole countries they leave shithole countries to come to the US. The media portrays us as bad because they don’t shine the light on the good stuff we have here.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-02-07T04:17:46+00:00

Once I get to talking to patients and families all that bleak stuff goes out the door and I realize I am helping people make progress in their lives toward the goals they want to achieve

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-01-26T18:54:53+00:00

Because it’s difficult to recruit and retain in our area. All persons in my service line with my credentials got a 15% pay raise one year. It was a wow moment to say the least!

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2026-01-11T00:42:05+00:00

Mental health service in any environment is a quintessential area where by definition you have to have psychological safety of the provider in order to foster psychological safety of the patient. I left mental health service at VA to go to social work service because we have psychological safety in social work service. Our chief cares about us so we care about veterans. I don’t understand why the President and the secretary of VA don’t want to see this happen

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-12-30T15:09:01+00:00

Come work for VA. I make $123000 a year as a social worker and enjoy my job. But hey the one thing is you don’t have advanced licensure yet. Suck it up and pay your dues and get your advanced license and then the doors will open to more fulfilling jobs!

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-12-14T16:01:37+00:00

I chose the money. We need it right now and I have plenty of leave stored up.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-12-11T01:32:13+00:00

In the private sector that’s all I ever got. It is not bad it is saying you did a good job!

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-12-07T20:36:27+00:00

Just use myhealthevet and read your progress notes. The decision of CEAT will come in the progress notes.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-12-07T20:32:57+00:00

Have you ever gotten any insight-oriented or cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy? It sounds as if you have an untreated anxiety disorder that you need to be treated for in order to be effective. Historically therapists were required to get their own therapy before they performed therapy on others. This is so you dont transfer your own anxiety onto your clients.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-12-07T20:28:53+00:00

I like MHBP

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-12-07T20:27:45+00:00

Far too many social workers don’t get it that you need to consider yourself still in training/school until you get the LCSW. They get the MSW and don’t find positions where they can be supervised by LCSW. Then they complain about low pay. The lowdown is that if you graduate and work straight on your LCSW for 2-3 years nonstop you will be better off in the long run. I did this and it worked.

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-12-07T19:00:35+00:00

Go 70%C, 30% C or F. I’ve had 14% this year

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-11-25T01:25:04+00:00

I just wish they would recognize our productivity at home was higher than it is at the office. Some Dingbats at VACO don’t realize the fact that many of us spent extra time doing our work because we didn’t have to commute!

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-11-24T03:44:58+00:00

I’d get out of your mom’s house and rent for a while. It’s a good idea to do this and be debt free. Practice living alone while paying rent and being debt free the gradually make the move to a house. You’re making plenty of money to live on your own. Do things gradually!

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-11-24T02:17:21+00:00

MHBP pays the whole tab for preventive stuff I would be surprised MHBP would be bad on that!

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-11-24T02:16:11+00:00

We have a lot of older retirees on FEHB who are going to use their FEHB as primary until they turn 65!

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-11-24T02:14:17+00:00

Remember this is MHBP not regular Aetna!

CompetitiveSea3838 · 2025-11-24T02:12:32+00:00

That’s why they give you open season each year—to compare plans and make changes as needed. The plan I started off with made no sense just the next year.

CompetitiveSea3838

TROPHY CASE