Psychologist (Staff Health Care Team) at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

Job Description

MAIN TASKS 

Psychological Support 

• Provide psychological support to international mobile staff, remotely and while at home.
• Support punctually in the referrals of HQ personnel presenting mental health distress.
• Support punctually with the medical evacuation in cases of acute mental distress, of IMS from the region.  
• Support staff and their families during medical evacuations upon request. 
• Advise on the management and support of team members in distress.
• Maintain regular contact with counterparts in other PSU.
• Create awareness on mental well-being by conducting training and psycho education. 

Coordination and implementation of psychosocial DBF procedures 

• Carry out Pre-departure briefing.
• Conduct return talk (personalized debriefing).
• Refer international mobile staff to an external referral network of psychologists when needed.
• Identify a pool of local providers in the Eastern African Region to offer further external support to the international mobile staff when needed. 
• Follow up in between mission upon request. 

Critical Incident support 

• Upon request by OCs support in major critical incidents as family liaison, calling and supporting other staff in the field etc. 
• Provide support to team members affected by critical incidents upon return home if needed. 
• Reinforce the critical incident external support team by identifying trained psychologist able to be part of this roster – with a special focus on Eastern Africa.
• Upon request support teams evacuated to NAIROBI in close collaboration with the relevant team/departments.
• Part of the Critical Incident management team based on role/need defined.

Building external networks

• Identify and develop a network of psychologists in different countries in Eastern Africa to offer further psychosocial support to the IMS.
• Organize updates and training meetings to the external network in order to ensure contextualized support is offered to the IMS upon referral.  

Training

• Participate in awareness and preventive programs for the psychosocial support of the IMS
• Carry out context-specific briefings for coordinators and other key field managers.
• Support the preparation and facilitation of training modules in the Welcome to MSF.
• Participate in the Field HR days and offer training to the IMS as part of creating awareness around MH and Prevention. 
• Participate in the regional mental health training conducted in the region.

Other

• Provide support to Missions in the region on needs basis, including training/awareness and Supervision for MH workers.
• Participate in meetings of the Human Resources department, as well as in some other meetings of the Field HR.
• Participate in interdisciplinary working groups of the department. 
• Participate in the development of the annual planning of activities and resource allocation.
• Participate in the follow up and reporting of activities and budget. 

SELECTION CRITERIA

Education and Experience

• Essential Degree in clinical Psychology, Organization Psychology and other related field.
• Psychologist with social and clinical experience with minimum 3yrs experience.
• Knowledge and experience in emotional support/management of teams under crisis situations.
• Knowledge and experience in group management.
• Comprehension of/and work experience in the international context of MSF.
• Experience in mental health interventions in conflict situation, violence and disaster.
• Fluent in English – Knowledge of French & Swahili valued.
• User-level IT skills (Microsoft Office applications).

Competencies:

• Commitment to MSF’s Principles
• Cross-cultural Awareness
• Behavioral Flexibility
• Stress Management
• Analytical Thinking
• Results and Quality Orientation
• Service Orientation
• Planning and Organizing
• Teamwork and Cooperation

Others

• Training skills.
• Availability to travel and to work flexible working hours.

Application deadline: 10th February 2023