Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Specialist

Basic Information

Position: Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Specialist.

Job site: Amman (roving based on the need to Madaba, Irbid, Mafraq, Karak, Tafileh, and Maan).

Reports to:

(Technical): Protection Coordinator / Protection Adviser.

(Functional): Protection Coordinator.

Status: Full Time.

About INTERSOS:

INTERSOS is an independent non-profit humanitarian organization that assists the victims of natural disasters and armed conflicts. Its activities are based on solidarity, justice, human dignity, equality of rights and opportunities, and respect for diversity and coexistence, paying special attention to the most vulnerable and unprotected people.

Purpose/objective of the position:

Support the Protection Coordinator in defining, supervising, and implementing the MHPSS component of the protection program.

Provide technical guidance and advice to protection staff, ensuring that specific MHPSS components of the program are delivered according to internal guidelines and in line with international standards and principles to achieve the mission’s goals effectively, according to INTERSOS human resources vision and values.

Technical Leadership & Responsibilities:

• Develop the MHPSS Response framework and strategy for the mission in line with the Mission Protection Strategy, the Global Protection Framework, and the Global MHPSS guidelines
• Identify key mental health issues and contributing factors in the communities for both men and women, where we work using assessment tools and research
• Identify Community practices, assets, and structures that are conducive to the promotion of good mental health and ensure that our programming builds on these assets
• Develop Position papers on our MHPSS response outlining our community-based PSS response in alignment with culture and context
• Design Prevention and Mitigation measures for the mental health concerns identified for the children and adults in the community
• Work with the CPP referent / Protection Coordinator in designing interventions that support PSS that are integrated within our CP /GBV response
• Design Key messages for Awareness on MHPSS based on issues identified in the community and ensure teams are sensitized on it and able to deliver these messages in the community effectively
• Ensure Awareness materials on MHPSS are designed in culturally embedded practices and using traditional practices that the community uses to spread messages
• Ensure the latest developments in the field of MHPSS are shared with the Protection staff and contextualized for their use based on need
• Develop M & E tools for assessing distress among clients and for measuring the impact of our MHPSS services
• Ensure our MHPSS response is community-based in line with the global CBP guidelines and MHPSS guidelines
• Regularly prepare and update service mapping in all our project locations to ensure support and follow-up for our beneficiaries

Coordination & Support Responsibilities:

• Contribute to the design of the protection strategy of the mission and provide technical support and assistance for the implementation of the MHPSS activities through the proper tools and methodologies
• Design and revise MHPSS interventions and activities that are AGD sensitive and ensure AGD and context appropriateness in addressing CP, GBV, and other protection issues
• Ensure that vulnerable/at-risk individuals are promptly and safely identified and referred
• Draft and revise MHPSS SOPs, and develop standard MEAL tools and indicators to measure the impact, effectiveness, and quality of MHPSS interventions for children, adults, and people with disabilities, and ensure the piloting and standardization of these tools. Increase and enhance MHPSS program monitoring and evaluation and determine the impact
• Perform trends analysis on prevailing protection concerns in each mission location for tailored intervention
• Work with the CP and GBV specialist to strengthen PSS in case management, guiding on identifying issues, empathy, session structure, and referral
• Monitor progress on individual cases documented by the psychologists, maintaining strict protocols for confidentiality and consent
• Collaborate with Case Management and medical teams to ensure proper collaboration in
• referral procedures
• Lead, mentor, guide, and regularly monitor the psychologists' teams, establishing standard processes and procedures for beneficiaries' support and developing standard tools for measuring progress
• Support in providing individual psychological counseling in Amman based on the needs of the cases.
• Design and develop an MHPSS Toolkit with appropriate resources and guidelines to provide structured and unstructured MHPSS for children and adults
• In coordination with the Protection Coordinator support to contextualize and adapt internal and global guidelines, guarantying that they are known by relevant staff
• Ensure cohesion and harmonization of MHPSS activities, tools, guidelines, and services across the different projects’ strategy
• In coordination with the Protection Coordinator, deliver training and workshops to protection staff to build skills on MHPSS topics. Develop training materials according to national policies and international standards
• Support the Protection Coordinator in delivering training and workshops to non-protection staff to build skills and knowledge of Staff Care, Mental Health, PFA, and other topics relevant to all sectors

Networking and partnerships:

• Maintain collaborative working relationships with relevant clusters and related working groups at the national and/or field level and guarantee compliance to the eventual monthly cluster reporting requirements
• Represent INTERSOS in MHPSS in meetings and share best practices and lessons learned
• Act as a focal point in the protection cluster for the MHPSS technical working group
• In coordination with the Protection Coordinator, ensure that main MHPSS concerns are brought to relevant stakeholders to advocate the respect of human rights and guarantee the minimum protection standards
• Network with MHPSS leaders of other missions and other organizations to share the best practices and resources

Other (Representation) Responsibilities:

• Maintain collaborative relations with relevant working groups and related coordination task forces at the field level.
• Attend Working and Sub-working group and coordination meetings regularly and ensure that INTERSOS’ work is shared with other humanitarian and development actors.
• In coordination with the Protection Coordinator, ensure that main protection concerns are brought to relevant stakeholders to advocate for respect for human rights and minimum protection standards.

Minimum requirements

• University degree in Social Science, Psychology, Social Work, Human Rights, International Humanitarian Law, or other fields related to social development and humanitarian work;
• Desirable Master's degree (MA) in related fields;
• Minimum of 6 years of relevant working experience in protection-related sectors, preferably within an INGO, and two years for higher education degree (Masters);
• Extensive field experience and an in-depth knowledge of refugees’ context;
• Computer literacy (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, INTERSOS MHPSS Platform is a plus);

Other requirements:

• Native Arabic -Good written and spoken English
• Strong theoretical, technical, and practical knowledge of MHPSS
• Excellent understanding of protection, human rights law, and international humanitarian rights and principles
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills and ability to work and integrate in a multicultural team
• Experience in proposal writing is an asset
• Strong team spirit, comfortable in a multi-cultural environment, working under pressure, flexibility
• Problem solver, dynamic, mature, proactive, strong organizational skills and ability to manage efficiently multiple priorities, deadlines, and tasks
• Diplomatic skills in networking with partners, authorities, and donors
• High confidentiality, respect, and non-discriminatory attitude
• Reporting skills, experience with monitoring tools and systems, data collection and analysis
• Capacities in developing training programs in specific thematic areas
• Commitment to INTERSOS principles