Psychotherapist / Part time / Zahle

Main responsibilities:

• Assist in the coordination of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) activities among different mental health staff and with PHC staff.
• Coordinate with case management team including MHPSS Supervisor and case managers on the implementation of all MH interventions and activities.
• Properly diagnose, support and treat mental health cases.
• Sensitisation and capacity building among PHC staff, the refugee community and host population about MHPSS.
• Utilize the referral system between community and PHC Centre as well as to secondary treatment level.
• Analysis, detection and reduction of risk factors influencing the mental health status at community level.
• Assist in the development and implementation of preventive mental health measures at both the community and PHC Centre level.
• Assist in the development and implementation of psycho-social activities within the refugee community and host population.
• Take an active role in all proposed research and/or MH assessments to be conducted on the field.
• Conduct recruitment and intake assessment, using a standardized interview, for a randomized controlled trial (RCT)
• Use standardised measurement tools during appointments for case-management or psychosocial support for children taking part in the RCT
• Enter data from standardized interviews and measurement tools into secure online databases

Main responsibilities and activities of the Psychotherapists can change according to the organization of the work and to the composition of the team.

Main activities:

1. Coordinate mental health activities among different mental health staff and with PHC staff

• Work with the case-management team on mental health issues presented in PHC Centres and within   communities/settlements.
• Assist in the assessment of mental health needs and proposition of interventions in coordination with the partner PHC Centres and the MH Coordinator to improve or settle mental health coverage.
• Clinical documentation of all individual and group therapy activities.
• Weekly reporting on mental health activities and data collected.
• When required participate in regular meetings with key actors, GSMH and PHC departments;
• When required, participation in network/coordination meetings concerning mental health.
• Participation in MDM internal meetings and individual meetings with the MH Coordinator and MHPSS Supervisor.

2. Diagnose and treat mental health cases.

• Provide appropriate mental health support and/or treatment through individual counselling, group therapy, and psycho-education to all beneficiaries in need.
• Work directly with the case-management team to develop individualized intervention plans and follow up at the PHC or home/ shelter level.

3.  Developing community mental health interventions

• Participate in defining effective and culturally appropriate approaches and interventions on the community level.
• Focus on information dissemination and collecting opinions to foster knowledge and self-control of people living in the community and informal settlements.
• Work on building and encouraging important support networks within and amongst the target population.

4. Sensitisation and capacity building among PHC staff about mental health.

• Prepare awareness/training sessions about MHPSS guidelines for Primary Health Care centres.
• In coordination with MH Coordinator, train MDM’s case-management team as well as partner’s staff and community members on MHPSS issues.

5. Utilize the referral system between community and PHC Centre as well as to secondary treatment level

• Assist in the development of effective referral systems between the community and PHC level.
• Utilize the referral system to secondary mental health care.

6. Analysis, detection and reduction of risk factors influencing the mental health status at community level

• In collaboration with the mental health team, explore and detect potential risk factors influencing mental health status of the target population.
• When required, coordinate with other stakeholders to reduce and/or eliminate potential risk factors.
• Participate in any intended MH research study and/or professional field assessment.    

7. Develop and perform preventive measures for stable mental health at community and PHC Centre level

• In collaboration with the mental health team, establish and implement innovative preventive mental health interventions such as art therapy, psychodrama, etc.

8. Recruit families to a Randomized Controlled Trial (RCT; the t-CETA study) and conduct intake assessments:

• Following training by the t-CETA research team, recruit suitable families to the t-CETA study by making phone calls to screen patients (approximately 50 cases to be able to find 60 eligible)
• Introduce the families to the RCT and follow the informed consent procedures and ensure consent from caregivers and assent from children to take part in the research study.
• Conduct a standardized clinical interview, the MINI KID, and severity rating, the CGI, to determine eligibility for the research study (under supervision).
• Follow procedures to randomize families to either the t-CETA arm or the treatment-as-usual arm of the study.
• Prepare families for the next part of the study by explaining what will happen as well as elaborating on the visual aids to be sued, answering questions, and ensuring they have all study documents.

9. Provide case management and psychosocial support, and use standardized measurement tools, with children taking part in the RCT (t-CETA study):

• Provide psychosocial support to around 60 children (upon need and referral from the case manager) participating in the treatment-as-usual arm of the t-CETA study, following the standard MdM approach.
• Following training by the t-CETA research team, use two standardized measurement tools with these children: the Client Monitoring Form (a questionnaire about mental health symptoms, used at each session); the PSYCHLOPS (a questionnaire about children’s problems and feelings about therapy, used at the beginning, middle, and end of the period of case-management / psychosocial support). Forms will be either hard copies or on tablets and are all in Arabic.

10. Enter data for the RCT (t-CETA study) into secure online databases:

• Enter data from the intake session to REDCap and Qualtrics (training will be provided). Data includes: appointment dates and times and whether client attended; eligibility for RCT; results of clinical interview (MINI KID) in Arabic.
• Enter data from standardized measurement tools used during case management or psychosocial support: Client Monitoring Form and PSYCHLOPS in Arabic using hard copies and tablets