MHPSS Counselor

About RRAA:

Rural Rehabilitation Association for Afghanistan (RRAA) is a   non-profit, non-governmental, and non-political NGO established in 1990. The head office of the organization is in Kabul, Afghanistan and delivers humanitarian services in the sectors of WASH, Good Governance, and Livelihood through its regional offices in Mazar, Herat, Jalalabad, and central zone in a decentralized manner.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS:

Psychosocial counselors aim to reduce the distress and improve the psychosocial wellbeing of his/her beneficiaries. He/she use psychosocial methods and research to make positive changes to his/her beneficiaries' lives and offer various forms of treatment.

The MHPSS triangle should be in mind, our program is mainly dealing with the bottom 2-3. However, if we have specialized staff i.e., doctors, psychiatrists, and psychologists, we can handle with the Specialized Services at the top of the triangle.

He/she will closely work with the children of under age 15 who have a variety of different mental or physical health issues, such as:

• depression and anxiety.
• mental illness.
• adjustment to physical illness.
• neurological disorders.
• addictive behaviors.
• challenging behaviors.
• eating disorders.
• personal and family relationship problems; and
• learning disabilities.

Tasks may include:

• Organize the initial assessment with Children to assess the situation (and complete the relevant data-collection form). Keep detailed paperwork about PoCs to monitor the progress of the children's treatments.
• Assess the beneficiaries’ psychological condition by using psychological tools to detect the vulnerable cases and ensure psychological follow up.
• Support children, with assistance from the RRAA protection coordinator and team in serious cases.
• Refer children to the appropriate medical services and accompany them if necessary or upon their request.
• Refer children to established referral mechanisms as appropriate eg., legal services, the mental health center or other facilities depending on the services available, and everyone's needs and requests.
• Assist in the development of referral networks between partners implementing children protection and implement referral pathways if not yet available.
• Help the community mobilizers to raise awareness in the community.
• Facilitate and/or run meetings on psychosocial issues with community leaders and other influential members of the community, with the consent of the community mobilizers.
• Fill in the relevant data-collection form for each session and any other resource made available by RRAA or UNICEF.
• Ensure the safety of team members from any harm, abuse, neglect, harassment, and exploitation to achieve the program's goals on safeguarding implementation.
• Act as a key source of support, guidance, and expertise on safeguarding for establishing a safe working environment.
• Work as part of a multidisciplinary team alongside Protection Monitors and Community Mobilization Officers.
• Offer psychosocial therapy and treatments for difficulties relating to mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, addiction, social and interpersonal problems, and challenging behavior.
• Conduct MHPSS service iIslam Qala (IQ) and transit center for the children and their caregivers returned/deported from Iran.

• A Diploma in Psychology, Social or Humanitarian Sciences, a bachelor’s degree in psychology/clinical psychology is highly preferred.

• A minimum of 3 years of relevant work experience.
• Knowledge of counselling and psychosocial support is essential.
• Excellent oral and written communication skills as well as interpersonal and team working skills; sense of responsibility; strong organizational skills; perseverance; accuracy.

• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills to deal with the children.
• A strong understanding of the profession and the role of a psychosocial counselor
• Computer literacy, with excellent knowledge of Microsoft Excel and PowerPoint.
• Good command of English (written and spoken) & fluency in local language (Dari, Pashto)
• Experience working in humanitarian emergency settings is an asset.

Others:

• Empathy and compassion with a strong commitment to teamwork and humanitarian principles (Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, and Confidentiality)
• Ability to remain flexible, and to maintain good spirits in challenging and stressful situations.
• Ability to establish and maintain good working relationships in a multi-ethnic, multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary environment.
• Ability to recognize own limitations and respond to difficult situations.

Kindly fill up your information using the RRAA Application Form link shared below.

Note(1): Make sure  that the CV you are attaching at the end of the form is below 1MB.

Note(2): Please do not attach any certificates with your CV.  

Note(3): Only qualified candidates will be short-listed.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdH09L50yYjD33ohkXHNQ1lclJYOTA5JsGcp718usjqyidP1Q/viewform?usp=sf_link