Being a mental health officer (MHO) with MSF is an intense but rewarding job. From providing psychological first aid to survivors of natural disasters to counselling HIV patients, our MHOs play a vital role in our projects. Trauma is often the most painful aspect of surviving a conflict or disaster, or living with a disease, and mental healthcare is vital for recovery.
Responsibilities
- Our MHOs often head a group of outreach workers and counsellors, providing care in the health facilities but also out in the community.
- It’s a challenging and exciting role and you would be responsible for some or all of the following:
- Doing a community mental health assessment
- Planning a mental health strategy
- Managing mental healthcare for an entire hospital/project
- Providing care for victims of sexual violence
- Supporting groups of displaced people
- Identifying and managing protection issues
Requirements
- Formal education and post qualification in one of the following: Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology, Social work (with additional psychological therapy qualification), Psychiatry (with additional psychological therapy qualification)
- Currently licensed to practice one of the above areas with independent licensed clinical practice
- Two year's post-qualification experience
- Experience working in the field of HIV/AIDS, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), sexual violence, Tuberculosis (TB) care
- Experience in managing and training mental health workers
- Experience in the clinical supervision of others and treating trauma related problems
- Experience with emergency mental health/crisis interventions
- A second language (preferably French, Arabic, Spanish or Portuguese)
- Able to work well as a part of a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary team
- Willing to work in unstable areas and ability to cope in a difficult and unpredictable environment
- Available for a minimum of nine to twelve months
- Minimum of three months’ work, volunteering or travelling experience in developing countries
- Fluency in English is essential, Arabic and French will be an asset