Emergency Response – Technical Unit MHPSS Support Officer

Job Overview

In the past months, the increased escalations of violent attacks, airstrikes, and bombings in Lebanon have resulted in thousands of deaths, chronic disabilities, severe injuries, missing persons, and a lot of grief, pain, and anxiety in people living in Lebanon. Health systems have been responding at full capacity. Resources are limited, and the needs are immense. The National Mental Health Programme (NMHP), together with its partners and the Public Health Emergency Operations Center (PHEOC), has developed a National Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Emergency Response Plan and has been coordinating, implementing, and monitoring these activities across sectors and levels of care.

Different Units at the NMHP have been responding to the emergency situation at full capacity and are in urgent need of human resources to continue providing timely support. The Technical Unit at the NMHP has been providing technical oversight on all the MHPSS components. The Technical Unit is under-resourced and overstretched and has been heavily involved in reviewing action plans, developing and tailoring interventions, developing guidance notes, developing psychoeducational key messages and social media posts, content for orientations and capacity building, orienting and training field workers, syndicates, orders, and other staff, supporting in adapting and developing staff-care and self-care initiatives, developing checklists, SOPs, and tipsheets, liaising with other technical focal persons and entities, among other activities to ensure alignment with multi-sectoral MHPSS good practices and prevent harm.

The following position is a temporary placement to support the capacity of the NMHP in its technical deliverables in-line with the national emergency plan developed by the NMHP and its co-chairs (WHO and UNICEF). It will also support strengthening the mental health component at UNFPA office across the SRH and GBV program through development of needed SOPs and guiding documents.

Key Responsibilities

Primary Responsibilities

• Support in development and adaptation of MHPSS key messages and social media posts
• Support in development of SOPs as needed and requested by the NMHP and UNFPA
• Ensure mainstreaming SRH and GBV in the national developed documents though the NMHP
• Support in development and adaptation of tailored orientation material on the emergency to syndicates, orders, hotline operators, field workers, etc.
• Development and adaptation of tipsheets, checklists, and guidance notes for frontline workers, operators, hospital staff, around the emergency (i.e. Grief, breaking bad news, phone-based support, etc.)
• Support in development and adaptation of support group sessions content
• Moderate support group sessions, if needed
• Support in developing training materials (content, PPT, pre-post, tests, etc.) related to the emergency (i.e. SIDR, ECM, PFA, etc.)
• Support in providing capacity building sessions (i.e. for PSUs, frontline workers, operators, hospital staff, etc.) on Psychological First Aid (PFA) and other relevant content.
• Support in mapping, developing, adapting, and harmonizing PSS interventions in emergency settings for different populations (i.e. children, PLWs, older adults, etc.)
• Support in providing or auditing staff-care, self-care, or other sessions
• Conduct literature review and desk review as needed (i.e. on MHPSS interventions, good practices, available resources, etc.)
• Optimizing and supporting in developing technical indicators in collaboration with the Research & MEAL Unit.

Secondary Responsibilities

• Coordinate with other sectors, taskforces, and committees, as needed
• Conduct routine day-to-day coordination tasks
• Prepare Minutes of Meetings, when needed
• Development and adaptation of participant registration forms
• Development and adaptation of participation criteria and support in selecting participants
• Support in monitoring, analysis, evaluation and reporting in collaboration with the NMHP Research & MEAL Unit and UNFPA team

Minimum Qualifications and Professional Experience

Education

• Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology, Psychology, Public Health, or Mental Health Social Work

Experience

• Minimum of 5 years of work experience in the field of mental health and/or substance use
• Proven experience in material development, developing training exercises in accordance with the principles of adult learning, knowledge of facilitation methods (role plays, brainstorming, group discussions, etc.)
• Knowledge of MHPSS in the context of emergencies (i.e. IASC guidelines, MHPSS Minimum Standards Package, etc.)
• Knowledge of the healthcare system and emergency response mechanisms in Lebanon
• Knowledge of community-based mental health and mental health in primary care settings
• Knowledge of evidence-based mental health interventions
• Knowledge of tele-mental health or remote mental health interventions
• Knowledge of academic research methodology
• Experience in citing and referencing (APA is mandatory, knowledge of other formats is a plus)
• Diploma in Global Mental Health is a plus
• Proficient in reading and writing of Arabic and English, fluency in French is a plus

Desired Skills and Characteristics

• Analytical and conceptualization skills
• Excellent communication and coordination skills
• Ability to work under pressure
• Proven ability in priority management, time-management, and multi-tasking
• Perceptive, proactive and responsive
• Commitment to quality and good practices
• Good organizational and problem-solving skills
• Dependability, accountability, and transparency

Previous Training Experiences (Preferred)

• Knowledge and techniques in Training of Trainers (TOT) and in conducting training sessions
• Mental Health Safe Identification and Referral
• Psychological First Aid (PFA)
• Emotional Crisis Management (ECM)
• Problem Management Plus (PM+/GPM+)
• Group Interpersonal Therapy (IPT/G-IPT)
• Self-Help Plus (SH+)
• Mental Health Gap Action Program (mhGAP) or the National MH Integration Packages
• Communication skills
• Life and Social Skills

Digital Literacy

• Advanced knowledge of Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook)
• Basic knowledge of cloud-based collaboration (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive, etc.)
• Basic knowledge of social communication platforms (Zoom, MS Teams, etc.)
• Basic technology literacy
• Basic knowledge of data analytics and reporting software (SPSS, PowerBI, etc.)

Languages

• Proficiency in Arabic and English, both written and spoken.