Mental Health Officer (Managed by Nairobi) at Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)

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