Mental Health Supervisor at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) is an independent international medical humanitarian organisation that delivers emergency aid in more than 60 countries to people affected by armed conflict, epidemics, natural or man-made disasters or exclusion from healthcare.

The French Section of Médecins Sans Frontières is currently recruiting to fill the position below:

Job Title: Mental Health Supervisor

Location: Katsina
Start Date:  ASAP

Context

• MSF has been active in Katsina since February 2021 after carrying an exploratory mission that end up with an opening of the project under the Emergency-Cell.
• Currently, MSF is running an ITFC (Inpatient Therapeutic Feeding Centre) in Katsina in the KofarSauri PHCC and TuraiYar'Adua Hospital and 8 ATFC (Ambulatory Therapeutic Feeding Centre) including four in Jibia LGA (Magama, Daddara, GubiMagaria, Riko, Mashi, Majigiri and Sonkaya) and one in Katsina City (KofarMarusa).

Main Purpose

• Participate in the planning, supervision and coordination of mental health / pycho-social related services in the programme in accordance with MSF standards in order to provide the most appropriate mental health support for patients.

Job Description

• Participate in the planning, organization and coordination of Mental Health activities, in close collaboration with the Project Coordinator, the Mental Health Activity Manager and other medical team members, in order to ensure an efficient and effective implementation of the resources needed while maintaining high levels of quality in Mental Health MSF programs and activities.
• Coordinate activities of counseling with other relevant actors and liaise with the local counterparts on mental health matters, including referral services.
• Supervise the daily mental health activities and patient support according to MSF protocols and standards in order to provide the most appropriate support for caregivers and patients with psycho-social needs.
• Liaise with the other MSF team members of the project to include mental health of caregivers and patients.
• Supervise, in close coordination with the HR department, the associated processes (recruitment, training/induction, evaluation, development and communication) of the staff under his/her responsibility in order to ensure both the sizing and the amount of knowledge required.
• Oversee the administrative processes associated with psychosocial functioning.
• Carrying out individual and group-counselling and develop and implement psychosocial and psychoeducation activities for caregivers in the ITFCs, ATFCs and SGBV activity.
• Providing written reports, keeping records of activities, filing and documentation and ensuring the data collection within the activity.
• Following the Code of Ethics for Mental Health Professionals and ensuring that all patient -related information is kept confidential.
• Participate in the supervision and training plan for the mental health team.
• Attend in a flexible way to other activities proposed by the line manager.
• In collaboration with the MHAM, develop SOPs for the mental health activity, including counseling, patient referral and follow-up.
• Ensure that patients’ confidentiality is upheld (where files are kept, internal and external information-sharing policy/procedure, etc.)
• Ensure that the MH team understands the proper use of the MH tools, data collection and data entry through training.
• Maintain close collaboration with the medical team to ensure an interdisciplinary approach to the treament of caregivers/patients (i.e. participating in interdisciplinary case discussions and ward rounds).
• Follow and encourage adherence to the protocols developed for the activity, including referral pathway, in order to maintain structure and smooth flow within the service.
• Accompany the mental health staff at psychoeducation/awareness sessions to ensure quality of information.
• Monitor defaulters/missed appointments and collaborate with the MHAM to implement appropriate strategies to reduce the dropout rate.
• Prepare requests for daily workers to cover gaps as needed following required HR procedure.
• Prepare the relevant invoices for payment of daily workers.
• Develop creative and impactful psychosocial and psychoeducational activities aimed to improve the mental health of caregivers/patients.
• Ensure the accuracy, quality and continuity of the mental health messaging that are disseminated to the caregivers and hospital teams.
• Participate in the creation of any materials needed to support the continuation of the psychosocial activities.
• Plan and organize group, individual and in-sesion supervision for the psychologists and counselor educators to ensure the quality of care provided to caregivers/patients.
• Monitor the caseload of the psycholgoists and counselors (maximum 7 patients per day in individual counselling) to ensure quality of care.
• Ensure that patient files are timely and appropriately updated to reflect the care provided.
• Conduct individual and group counselling for caregivers/patients following MSF’s MH protocol.
• Collaborate with the SGBV activity to provide counseling/consulation on the treament plan for survivors of sexual violence.
• Actively promote  and provide information on the availability of counselling services to caregivers as well as the hospital medical team.
• Identify patients with psychological needs and liaise with the relevant medical teams to refer them for mental health support.
• Follow-up on caregivers/patients receiving mental health support to ensure proper care is given and adherence to treatment.
• Receive calls (within working hours) for urgent mental health referrals.
• Create and conduct training(s) about mental health topics for the mental health team and hospital teams, to improve the overall knowledge and acceptance of mental health and to improve the activities from a mental health perspective.
• Update the Mental Health database with the weekly statistics prepared by the counselors and psychologists and forward to the MHAM by the end of the month to formulate the SitRep
• Performing any other task, specific to his/her area of specialty, as defined in his/her job description and according to the line manager.

Requirements
Education:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s Degree in Psychology

Experience:

• Essential: 2 years’ experience minimum as a Psychologist
• Desirable: previous experience with MSF or other NGOs in developing countries

Languages:

• Essential, local language commandment desirable, mission working language (English).

Knowledge:

• Desirable: Computer literacy (Microsoft Word, Excel and internet)
• Strong communication, organizational and social skills
• Capacity to work in a multidisciplinary team
• Initiative, creativity and flexible, stress-resistant

Competencies:

• Ethical
• Confidential
• Professional
• Empathic
• Adaptive coping skills
• Results- and quality-oriented
• Teamwork and cooperation
• Behavioural flexibility
• Stress management skills
• Communication skills
• Commitment to MSF Principles

Contract

• 208 working hours per month and flexibility is required

Remuneration

• According to MSF France salary grid

Application Closing Date
13th May, 2023 by 3:00pm.

How to Apply
Interested and qualified candidates should
Click here to apply online

Note

• Only successful applicants will be called for next steps.
• No monetary transactions, neither demands of favours in kind, nor other types of favouritism will be tolerated in the MSF recruitment process.
• MSF reserves the right to refuse hiring a candidate having benefitted from any such acts. All illicit demands may be pursued through the judicial system.
• MSF is an equal opportunity employer and encourages any Nigerian citizen to apply irrespective of race, gender, religion, creed, political affiliation