Psychologist for Mental Health Services for Children and their Caregivers - North

Job Description

The Consultant, a psychologist for mental health services for children and their caregivers, will support in providing clinical supervision of high-risk cases mainly under the case management component or their caregivers as needed and indicated by the Access to Justice Manager. The psychologist will conduct, face-to-face, one-on-one, and group sessions for children exposed to high risks, vulnerabilities, and distress. In addition, the consultant will support case workers through coaching sessions to build their capacity on dealing with children with challenging behaviors when/if needed.

Deliverables:

- Conduct one on one and group sessions for children exposed to high risks vulnerabilities through home visits or within the safe room in the municipalities. - Provide structured clinical assessments and clear case formulation: Assess the needs of the beneficiaries on the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional levels. - Use standardized assessment tools. - Develop a consistent and acceptable treatment plan with clear objectives in relevance to the need assessment with a logical and consistent timeframe that includes estimated dates for case evaluation, closure, and post-support check-up. - Monitor and evaluate the psychological progress of the patient. - Maintain irreproachable levels of confidentiality and privacy. - Complete intake assessments, evaluations, treatment recommendations, reviews, follow-up, and other documentation for each consultation and as necessary in an organized and efficient manner. - Ensure that emergency cases are properly managed, referred to, and followed. - Submit reports and updates on the cases to the manager of the program, the Case management officer, and the designated case worker after every session or field visit, including feedback, concerns, and recommendations for the case of every child.

Timeframe, and Schedule:

Task

Target

Timeframe

Delivery of specialized MHPSS consultations per child or caregiver

Maximum of 50 days with a minimum of 5 sessions per day each session not less than 45 minutes.

Between 1 May 2023, and 30 March 2024

Delivery of one report/month on the child’s situation including feedback, concerns, and recommendations for each case

1 report/month of service delivery

Reports should be submitted end of each month.

Payment Mode:

Payments will be issued based on the number of days conducted during the month having one payment for each month covering the days completed during the respective month.

Work modality:

The sessions need to be implemented at the field level in close coordination with the case workers.

Key Working Relationships:

- Position Reports to Access to Justice Manager - Position directly supervises: N/A - Other Internal and/or external contacts: MHPSS Technical Advisor

Qualifications

Education:

- The qualified candidate must have a MA in clinical psychology. - A completed clinical training/practicum in a university center consisting of at least 100 hours of training under supervision and 300 hours of applied training. - Having: - Lebanese colloquium certificate for clinical psychologists. - License to practice the clinical psychology profession from the Ministry of Public Health. - N.B: A letter of recommendation from a senior clinical psychologist supervisor (holder of a doctorate and/or a scholar) and membership in one of the registered psychological associations of Lebanon is preferable.

Work Experience:

- Minimum of 7 years of professional experience in MHPSS. - Skilled and experienced in evidence-based approaches to mental health (e.g., IPT, CBT, TF-CBT, EMDR). - Previous experience training MHPSS staff and supervising implementation is strongly preferred. - Experience supporting children at a high-risk level. - Knowledge of and experiences in using established inter-agency standards and guidelines in MHPSS and CP, such as the IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, Setting the Standard – A Common Approach to Child Protection for International NGOs, and Minimum Standards for Child Protection In Humanitarian Action.

Demonstrated Skills and Competencies:

- Ability to maintain confidentiality, respect, non-discrimination, and safety of beneficiaries always. - Excellent communication. - Ability to developing a consistent and acceptable improvement plan with clear objectives. - Ability to recognize mental health priority conditions as per the mhGAP. - Skilled in at least in one evidenced-based psychotherapy approach. - Using different relaxation and stress management techniques. - Ability to develop rapport with the patient. - Interviewing skills. - Excellent interpersonal and problem-solving skills, creativity, and flexibility. - Experience providing clinical supervision or leading trainings is a plus. - Ability to work autonomously, take initiative and responsibly escalate issues. - Excellent coaching skills, including the capacity to provide structured feedback. - Ability to work in a multidisciplinary team. - Demonstrated cultural sensitivity, non-discrimination, and readiness to work with men, women, and girls and boys from diverse backgrounds, particularly the most marginalized segments of the community. - Ability to adhere to ethical considerations and principles regarding work with vulnerable populations. - Candidate must be skilled in: - Developing person-centered, goal and strength-focused, recovery-oriented care plans. - Mental health in complex emergencies (IASC guidelines, Psychological First Aid, mhGAP…). - Biopsychosocial model in mental health. - Community-based approach in mental health. - Human rights-based approach in mental health. - Knowledge about the predictable stresses of humanitarian aid workers and the policies and practices needed to mitigate them. - Good digital literacy and knowledge of Microsoft Office and internet use.

Language Skills:

Ability to fluently communicate, read, and write in Arabic and English.

Working Environment:

- The Consultant Clinical Psychologist for children and caregivers will not have dedicated office space at IRC but will have access to IRC premises for the purpose of meeting with relevant supervisees, when and as needed. It is preferable if the selected candidate has a dedicated work smartphone and number to be able to support children and their caregivers remotely (through WhatsApp calls or phone calls). The selected candidate must abide by the guidelines on delivering telepsychology interventions annexed to this ToR (Annex 1). - The consultant must be willing to travel to Tripoli and Minnieh to conduct home visits when and as needed. - The IRC and IRC workers must adhere to the values and principles outlined in IRC Way - Standards for Professional Conduct. These are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, the IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Anti Workplace Harassment, Fiscal Integrity, and Anti-Retaliation.

Annex 1

Guidelines on Delivering Telepsychology

Ethical Considerations

Humanitarian actors must abide by humanitarian principles and report any possible exploitation, abuse or degrading treatment, discrimination, harm, involuntary admission to institutions, forced medication, transgression of rights, and disregard to content being committed by family, community members, and other professionals.

Logistics Considerations

Each member of the MH staff (clinical psychologist, counselor…) must have a smartphone with a SIM card dedicated to the delivery of remote MH interventions. The smartphone and the application for telecommunication used (WhatsApp…) must be protected with strong passwords.

MH Intervention

- The smartphone must be operational and connected to the internet network during working hours. After working hours, the smartphone can be turned off. - The MH staff will be contacting clients to ask about their preferences for receiving MH services, either in-person or remotely. - If remote intervention is the only option, then they will be asked if they agree to receive it. - If remote intervention was chosen, the MH staff needs to conduct an initial assessment to determine the suitability of this intervention. - Clients will be asked about their ability to use telecommunication technologies (mobiles, WhatsApp…) and their preference, the module that they prefer (Video call, voice call, voice messages, messages…), and if their living environment allows a basic level of privacy and secrecy (risks of distraction, privacy and secrecy breaches…). - The MH staff will also assess the clients’ characteristics (linguistic, cognitive, mental, physical, or sensory skills or impairments, age…). The process must be documented. - Then, the clients will be prioritized based on their MH status, risk of complications, and urgent need to receive MH intervention. The appointments will be organized based on priority. - For the first remote session: - The informed consent is re-explained to the client mentioning the special considerations for this modality (role of the client in providing a private space away from distractions, risks and benefits, privacy of the data, disposing of data…). - The boundaries for the intervention are set (working hours, when to reach the MH staff). - Emergency planning including emergency contacts is discussed. The process must be documented. - The MH staff develops agreements with clients to assume some role in protecting the data and information they receive from the MH staff (e.g., by not forwarding texts from the counselor to others). - During the remote intervention, the same ethical and professional principles applicable during the in-person intervention are upheld. - The MH staff must do its best not to compromise the professional relationship, ensure appropriate conduct, and respect professional boundaries. For example, the MH staff is prohibited from searching online for clients, connecting and interacting with them outside the professional frame, or checking their updates (WhatsApp status). - Telecommunication applications can be used to augment the in-person or remote intervention. The MH staff can share IEC materials, links, exercises, and toolkits… that respond to the clients’ needs and can be of benefit. - At the end of each remote session, the conversation is disposed of (deleted) after the MH staff takes notes of the session. Important documents shared via telecommunication such as images, reports, scans… must be exported and stored in the client’s file. - The MH staff has the duty to explain to the client the need to dispose of the conversation (possible privacy and secrecy breaches), yet it is up to the client her/himself to decide whether to dispose of it or not. - The MH staff monitors and regularly assesses the progress of the clients to determine if the remote intervention is still appropriate and beneficial. - If the remote intervention is no longer beneficial or presents a risk to the client’s emotional or physical well-being, the MH staff needs to discuss these concerns with the client, appropriately terminate their remote services with adequate notice, and refer or offer any needed alternative services to the client. The process must be documented. - If a client recurrently experiences crises/emergencies, which suggests that in-person intervention may be appropriate, MH staff must begin providing in-person intervention. The process must be documented. - The MH staff coordinates closely with the other staff members to ensure a comprehensive and holistic intervention that responds to the clients’ personalized needs (referral and IEC purposes). - If psychometric testing is needed: - The MH staff needs to ensure that the integrity of the psychometric properties of the test and the conditions of administration are preserved. - The MH staff needs to make appropriate arrangements to address the specific issues that may arise with diverse populations. - The MH staff needs to specify that it was administered remotely. - Every step of the process must be documented. - For children who are not able to participate in the interview, the session will be with the main caregivers focusing on advice and exercises. For children who can participate in the interview and depending on the situation, a part of the session can be dedicated to the main caregivers to share recommendations and exercises. - Follow-up with IRC’s MHPSS technical focal point periodically.