Counselling Psychologist

Contract

This is a UNV International Specialist contract. This kind of contract is known as International UN Volunteer. It is normally internationally recruited only. More about UNV International Specialist contracts.

The United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) is the UN headquarters in Africa and the representative office of the Secretary-General. We support programme implementation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the UN Human Settlements Programme (UNHABITAT) globally, as well as other UN offices in Kenya, by Providing administrative, conference and information services (www.unon.org). This position is located at United Nations Office at Nairobi Joint Medical Services, which is part of the Division of administrative services, Human resource management service (DAS, HRMS), providing services under the common service framework to staff of agencies located in Kenya and in other countries that host outposted offices.

Under the direct supervision of the Associate Staff Counsellor, UNON JMS, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:

· Provide virtual or in-person psychological counseling support to staff members and dependents on appointment or on a walk-in basis. Offer psychosocial support to hospitalized staff members or their dependents including making hospital visits where this I deemed necessary. Provide mental health counseling and support including making relevant referrals for external expertise intervention when necessary

· Provide multicultural counseling and including but not limited to, adaptation and adjustment processes. Conduct virtual or in-person psychosocial needs assessments of psychologically affected staff members in various offices on-site or outposted and report on the same, and provide psychoeducation to staff members in virtual or in-per-son group sessions

· Provide Psychological First Aid (PFA) to clients faces with acute psychological incidents and provide bereavement and grief-supportive counseling when required

· Provide support and leadership in employee assistance programs where indicated in conjunction with respective supervisors and HR focal points where performance issues are observed and reported including where issues of alcohol and substance use/misuse interventions are needed.

· Provide Mission preparedness and post-missions psychosocial debrief and counseling support. Offer pre-retirement preparedness support and counseling to staff members. Prepare Psychosocial information and training materials as guided by UN staff counselor, and provide awareness training on emerging mental health issues of both national and international concern to the United Nations Organization

· Support the JMS team of doctors and nurses in managing workplace crises, and other medical consultations as deemed necessary. Support the UN Plus Coordinator in providing HIV /AIDS counseling and other supportive services. Participate in JMS in-house training and offer technical contributions on mental health-related discussion

· Prepare materials to respond to post-pandemic recovery processes and provide psychosocial risk mitigation.

Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:

· Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day);

· Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country;

· Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities;

· Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publica-tions/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.;

· Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly-arrived UN Volunteers;

· Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering, or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.

Results/Expected Outputs

· Successful support to staff in managing mental health-related issues and delivery of knowledge on ways to build resilience to cope with the ever-changing dynamics of the workplace

· Successful implementation of the various aspects of the UN Mental Health Strategy within the duty station

· The development of capacity through coaching, mentoring, and formal on-the-job training, when working with the diverse groups of staff at the duty station and beyond.

· Age, Gender, and Diversity (AGD) perspective is systematically applied, integrated, and documented in all activities throughout the assignment

· A final statement of achievements towards volunteerism for peace and development during the assignment, such as reporting on the number of volunteers mobilized, activities participated in and capacities developed

Communication Professionalism Respect for Diversity

providing online psychosocial support, in-person or virtually in a challenging multicultural environment is required

· Proven experience in trauma counseling and crisis intervention is required

· Proven experience of working in an international setting is required

· Previous experience of working in an Occupational health setting and networking with Administrative/Human Resource professionals is desirable

The Republic of Kenya is an equatorial nation on the coast of East Africa, neighboring Somalia, Ethi-opia, Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania, and the Indian Ocean. Kenya has two levels of Government; Na-tional Government and 47 sub-national Governments called Counties. Counties are further divided into sub-counties. Kenya is a multi-party state with Executive, Legislative, and Judicial branches. Kenya’s population of more than 40 million is growing at an annual rate of 2.2%. The country’s GNP per capita estimated at purchasing power parity (PPP) is $975, and the GNP is growing at an average rate of 0.1% annually. More than 26% of Kenya’s people live below the international poverty line of $1 per day. Kenya’s main food crops are “maize, wheat, pulses, roots and tubers.” (FAO). Nairobi is a modern metropolitan city where most basic goods and services, health facilities, public transport, telecommunication and banking services and educational facilities are readily available. The city is widely connected through its main airport, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the smaller Wilson Airport. Air transport is also available to many up-country destinations. The city is home to some 3,000 UN personnel mainly attributed to the fact that it serves as the headquarters for both the UN HABITAT and UNEP. The socio-economic and cultural background of the immediate society the UNV would be living and working in is diverse and prevailing security conditions at the place of assignment is modest. The topographic and climatic features of the assignment location is highland cool and warm tropical climate.