Psychiatric Consultant for Provision of psychiatric Consultation, and Technical Support and Supervision, Including Leadership of a Community of Practice

1. CONTEXT AND JUSTIFICATION
1.1. CONTEXT
Lebanon is currently facing a profound mental health crisis, with an estimated one in four individuals affected by common mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety. This growing crisis is the result of both longstanding and recent stressors, including protracted armed conflict, political and economic instability, the COVID-19 pandemic, and the ongoing refugee crisis stemming from neighboring countries.
Recent studies highlight the severity of the situation 47.8% of people screened positive for probable depression, 45.3% for anxiety and 43.5% for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Despite these alarming statistics, over 90% of those in need do not receive adequate mental health care. The treatment gap is driven by a largely privatized healthcare system, high service costs, and significant social stigma and misconceptions surrounding mental illness and its treatment.
In response, the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) has launched the first National Mental Health Strategy in 2015 and revised to the second strategy for the year 2024–2030, which prioritizes improved access to quality Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) services. A key pillar of this strategy is the integration of MHPSS into the Primary Health Care (PHC) system, aiming to ensure accessible, decentralized, and comprehensive care for all.
Supporting this national effort, Première Urgence Internationale (PUI) is implementing MHPSS programming across multiple regions of Lebanon, including Beirut, Mount Lebanon, the North/Akkar, Tripoli, Nabatiyeh, and the South. PUI works within selected Primary Health Care Centers (PHCCs) to provide both specialized and non-specialized MHPSS services

1.2. RATIONAL AND OVERALL OBJECTIVES
The primary responsibility of the Psychiatrist Consultant is to contribute to a project/s aimed at supporting individuals with mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) conditions through the integration of mental health services within the primary healthcare system.
The consultant will work in close coordination with PUI’s MHPSS team, which includes MHPSS Specialists, MHPSS Team Managers, psychologists, and social workers, under the overall guidance of the MHPSS Coordinator. Collaboration with trained general practitioners (GPs) and family doctors—who are implementing the NMHP care package within PHCs is also a key component of the role.
The psychiatrist will be responsible for two primary areas of work:
1.Provision of Psychiatric Consultations:
The consultant will provide clinical consultations for moderate to severe MNS disorder cases referred to by PUI’s MHPSS team and trained PHCC-based GPs, or other partners following the patient flow protocols recommended by the NMHP. The psychiatrist may receive direct referrals of patients with more severe mental health conditions or those at imminent risk of self-harm or harm to others.
2.Technical Supervision and Support through Community of Practice (CoP) Sessions:
The psychiatrist will facilitate CoP sessions to provide clinical supervision and technical support to GPs managing patients with mental health conditions. These sessions are intended to reinforce clinical skills and build the confidence of healthcare providers, particularly in applying the NMHP care package, which focuses on the management of individuals with MNS disorders.
While accomplishing these tasks, the Psychiatrist consultant will be expected to travel between multiple PHCCs supported by PUI under different donor-funded programs. Therefore, they may take on responsibilities across different geographic areas, depending on program priorities and their availability.

2. CONSULTANCY SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
-Provide psychiatric consultations for moderate to severe MNS conditions.
-Offer Supervision and technical support to GPs through community of practice sessions (CoPs) for the clinical management of patients with mental health conditions.
3. METHODOLOGY
3.1 Psychiatric Consultations:
▪The psychiatrist will receive internal and external two-way referrals of patients with varying severity of mental, neurological, and substance use (MNS) conditions from PUI’s MHPSS staff and trained GPs at PHCCs.
▪S/he will evaluate and diagnose patients, including ordering and interpreting laboratory, imaging, and other diagnostic procedures (LIDT), and provide treatment for moderate to severe MNS conditions by adhering to professional best practice clinical guidelines and procedures developed by the organization.
▪Provide services without regard to ethnicity, gender or religion and abide by basic human rights principles and ensure the confidentiality of clients and respecting their decisions.
▪The psychiatrist will prescribe psychotropic medications, order LIDT tests in line with NMHP and PUI guidelines and refer patients to specialized or non-specialized services as needed, collaborating closely with multi-disciplinary team.
▪S/he will follow up with patients to monitor treatment response, adjusting treatment plans as necessary in collaboration with trained GPs.
▪Consultations will primarily take place at PU-AMI-supported PHCCs, with home visits provided for patients with limited mobility and or severe mental health conditions.
▪The psychiatrist will ensure proper documentation by completing psychiatric assessment and follow-up forms for each patient and, when required, entering data into the National Health Information System.
▪S/he will actively participate in clinical and administrative meetings to address practical challenges and contribute to reporting on services delivered, while contributing to a safe and collaborative working environment where self-care as well as care of colleagues is prioritized.
3.2 Technical Supervision for the MH GAP trained health staff.
▪The psychiatrist will individually supervise the trained GPs through the CoPs for the management of potential MNS cases while also technically supporting the PU-AMI’s MHPSS Team during the case-focused discussions to be conducted either through in-person or remote modality.
▪The psychiatrist will design the CoPs by staying align with the NMHP suggested supervision modality as well as by filling out the relevant templates to be able to keep pertinent proofing documents in place.
▪The psychiatrist is expected to coordinate with the PUI’s MHPSS Specialist and MHPSS Team Manager for the quality and monitoring of those CoPs.
▪The psychiatrist will adopt pre and posts tests to demonstrate the increased knowledge and skills after completion of the supervision cycle by utilizing templates to be given by PUI.
4. AREA OF INTERVENTION
•This consultancy will be based in PHC where PUI-AIM provide MHPSS services located across different governorate in Lebanon such as Beirut, Mount Lebanon, North, Akkar, Tripoli, Nabatiyeh, Beakaa, and the South

5. DURATION OF THE Consultancy
▪ The consultancy is intended as a continuous process throughout the implementation of the project for a duration of 12 months based on a signature of a Framework Agreement between PUI and the Psychiatrist consultant. In this agreement PUI has the right to stop the project’s implementation in case of funds cessation or other force majeures and PUI does not pledge to work exclusively with the Psychiatrist.
6. FUNCTIONAL LINKS
•The Consultant will be working directly under the overall supervision of PUI MHPSS Coordinator and with close collaboration the head of primary health care, PUI-AMI MHPSS specialists, MHPSS team manager, social workers and GPs.
7. EXPECTED DELIVERABLE
▪MH consultations provided to people with moderate to severe MNs Conditions
▪CoPs organized to provide supervision and technical support
▪Technical and administrative meetings attended to ensure the service is running smoothly
▪Monthly reports provided encompassing both qualitative and quantitative information according to the agreed template
7.1. FINAL REPORT
▪Summary reports to be submitted every six months, outlining progress on both services (consultation and CoP). Reports should include a brief description of what has been achieved, challenges encountered, mitigation measures taken, lessons learned, and proposed recommendations to improve the quality of the program
7.2. Other Deliverables
N/A
8. PREREQUISITE QUALIFICATIONS
8.1. Education
▪Medical doctor with formal specialty training in the clinical management of psychiatric and substance use disorders including pharmacological and non-pharmacological methods, in both outpatient and inpatient mental health care settings.
8.2. Professional experience
▪Experience in providing clinical supervision to trained (on MhGAP/Identification and referral of the MH cases) health staff/ MHPSS staff is mandatory.
▪Work experience (in terms of providing psychiatric consultations) in PHCCs or in projects that aim to integrate MHPSS services into Health platforms is desired.
8.3. Competencies and knowledge
Essential Skills
▪Mastery of the psychiatric assessment and usage of ICD 10/ ICD 11 terminology/ DSM-5.
▪Mastery of Psychopharmacology and willingness to base prescriptions on the recommended MOPH list of psychotropic and neurological medications.
▪Ability to design a treatment plan and refer patients to other professionals when needed or in case of incidents of medications adverse reactions.
▪Ability to conceptualize cases from an integrative perspective.
▪Experience providing psychiatric services to vulnerable individuals, including women, minorities and children.
Additional Skills
▪Experience providing clinical supervision or leading training
▪Previous experience with international or local NGOs
▪Experience providing psychiatric services to survivors of torture and/or war violence
▪Experience working on an interdisciplinary team.
▪Knowledge and understanding of Monitoring and Evaluation concepts.
Personal Competencies
▪A demonstrated commitment to human rights, high professional ethical standards and humanitarian values.
▪Strong interpersonal and intercultural skills.
▪Collaborative spirit and ability to work independently as well as in a team.
▪Commitment to knowledge sharing.
▪Positive attitude and ability to see through challenges to find solutions.
▪An ability to clearly communicate, including complex concepts into layperson language.
▪Ability to adapt consultations to remote working modalities.
Languages
▪Arabic is mandatory. Knowledge of English and French is a strong advantage.
Computer Skills
▪Microsoft Office (Word, PowerPoint, Excel). Online platforms used for providing remote support (Zoom, Microsoft team, etc)
9. SELECTION CRITERIA
9.1 Administrative Evaluation:
▪All documents under 8.1 and 8.2 must be submitted to meet the administrative requirements and qualify for the technical evaluation. Failure to submit these documents will result in disqualification from the consultancy process.
9.2 Technical evaluation
Evaluation criteria are the following:
-Relevance and quality of the proposed methodology, namely:
▪Availability to visit the PHCC with regular frequency – to be clearly stated in the offer
▪Quality of the clinical supervision plan to non-specialized medical staff (general practitioners, family doctors, psychologists) – see details above
▪Experience in patients’ record keeping – suggested approach to be stated in the offer
-Experience in previous similar projects or psychiatric practice and capacity to present it:
▪5-7 slides speaking in brief about their background and expertise to bring in the PUI project)
-Candidates profile
▪Only the technical offers reaching at least 70% of the score will be declared technically valid and selected for the next phase of evaluation.
9.3 Financial evaluation
▪Only the financial offers from the candidates with at least 70% of the technical evaluation score will be considered. A financial evaluation score will be calculated for each offer, starting on the lowest bid.
9.4 Finale evaluation
▪The final evaluation will combine both prior evaluations, accordingly a 70% moderation for the technical offer and a 30% moderation for the financial offer. The candidate who will have the higher score will be selected. The financial offer will be analyzed and possibly negotiated with the candidate within the limit of the available budget. An interview will be set accordingly to do the final selection.
10. OFFERS PRESENTATION
10.1 Technical offer composition (in English)
▪Brief clinical supervision plan explaining the techniques, objectives of each type of session, methods, and supervision strategy of the trained general practitioners who will be managing mild to moderate mental health conditions.
▪The draft strategic plan for the clinical supervision should consider these following points:
▪the frequency of the supervisory sessions;
▪the potential methods for delivering the sessions;
▪some major agenda points to be covered.
10.2 Financial offer composition (in English)
▪Financial proposal (hourly rate, daily hours, other potential fees to be covered within the hourly rate)
▪Financial proposal signed and stamped including the offer validity, payment terms and the starting available date.
The financial offer should be signed and stamped into payment terms and offer validity. In addition to the above-mentioned, the applicant should submit the following documents:
▪CV
▪For Firms: Commercial Registration, VAT registration document and Passport Copy (if applicable) or ID copy for all personnel mentioned on the Commercial Registration in addition to legal representatives if not the same as mentioned on Commercial
\Registration, plus Fresh USD bank account.
▪For Individuals: Passport Copy (if applicable), Ministry of Finance Number (MoF number document).