Mental Health Officer

Mental Health Officer – Lebanon
Job Description
 

Job Classification: Mental Health Officer
Reports To:                           Project Coordinator
Location:                               Tyre, Lebanon (with travel all across the south region)               
 
About Heartland Alliance: Heartland Alliance (HA) advances the human rights and responds to the human needs of endangered populations—particularly the poor, the isolated, and the displaced—through the provision of comprehensive and respectful services and the promotion of permanent solutions leading to a more just global society. In Lebanon, HA provides holistic services focusing on psychosocial support, violence prevention, livelihoods strengthening and social cohesion to diverse vulnerable populations affected by the Syrian refugee crisis, including women and girls, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI) individuals, and survivors of Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), torture and trauma.
 
Summary: The Mental Health Officer will work on Heartland Alliance’s (HA) Strengthening Referral Pathways in Lebanon project in partnership with Mercy Corps and will be responsible to build the capacity of local NGOs in the South to respond and prevent SGBV – focusing on improving both organizational capacity and their case management and clinical skills. He/she will develop and conduct replicable, culturally-appropriate training workshops, focusing on mental health in emergency settings and trauma-informed mental health care. Introduce cognitive-behavioral and components-based approaches to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
 
The success of this project is based on the completion and realization of two main objectives:
 
1)       Survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) have increased access to available, specialized services by the end of the program.
2)       Local NGOs or hospitals/health clinics providing GBV and related mental health services have improved organizational and technical capacity, enabling them to increase quality and quantity of service provision by the end of the program.
 
Essential Duties and Responsibilities:
Mental Health and Gender Based Violence response services
 

Strengthening local service provider’s ability to provide quality services to survivors of GBV, by facilitating organizational development and conducting clinical and case management skills training.
Conduct mapping of mental health services in the south in collaboration with various set up coordination mechanisms

Provide continuous mentoring and supervision through comprehensive technical support and coaching to the counseling and medical teams with refreshment training as needs are identified
Monitor quality of individual and group counseling sessions and messages delivered to the patients and family members and/or caretakers; coordinate with psychosocial team to define the best responses (treatment and strategy) to continually improve response to patients’ psychological needs;
Work with psychosocial team to establish trust by addressing patients’ thought processes, feelings and behavior with a strong sense of neutrality and confidentiality
Support Psychologists in selected organizations with the diagnosis of any psychological or psychiatric disorder; assess needs and referral system for psychiatric case management (PTSD, depression, psychosis, addiction, etc); refer patients to psychiatric and/or other medical services if needed

 
Qualifications:  To perform this job successfully, an individual must be able to perform each essential duty satisfactorily. The requirements listed below are representative of the knowledge, skill, and/or ability required. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
 

Education and/or Experience: Experienced Psychologist with relevant degree qualification. Demonstrated experience with survivors of SGBV, PTSD, and torture and sensitivity to LGBTI issues required. Experience with immigrant and refugee populations preferred. Ability to lead teams and mentor staff and other individuals. 
Language Skills:  Must have written and spoken fluency in English and Arabic
Communication Skills: Strong coaching and training skills; ability to create and sustain a positive team dynamic. Listens and gets clarification, responds well to questions and feedback, participates in meetings, effectively communicate utilizing a variety of technologies such as phone or video phone (i.e. Skype), writes clearly and informatively, and edits work for spelling and grammar.

 
Physical Demands: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
 

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is regularly required to talk and hear. 
The employee is regularly required to sit, stand and walk.
Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision, color vision, peripheral vision, depth perception and ability to adjust focus.

 
Work Environment:  The work environment characteristics described here are representative of those an employee encounters while performing the essential functions of this job.  Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions.
 

The employee may be required to remain on Organization premises during breaks and/or meal periods and may be required to stay on Organization premises until their replacement arrives.

While performing the duties of this job, the employee is occasionally exposed to outside weather conditions.
The noise in the work environment is moderate.

 
Heartland Alliance makes all hiring and employment decisions without regard to race, creed, color, age, gender, gender identity, marital or parental status, religion, ancestry, national origin, physical or mental disability, sexual orientation, sexual identity, immigrant status, political affiliation or belief, ex-offender status (depending on the offense and position to be filled), unfavorable military discharge, membership in an organization whose primary purpose is the protection of civil rights or improvement of living conditions and human relations, height, weight, or HIV infection, in accord with the Organization's AIDS Policy Statement of September, 1987. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodation should contact the Employee Services Office at (312) 660-1431.
 
Please send your Resume & Cover letter to [email protected]. Please mention the position you are applying for in the subject of your email otherwise it will not be considered