Psychologist

Your responsibilities

• Work closely with MHPSS Supervisor, Social Workers, Volunteers and Protection team

• Roll-out the MHPSS activities in close collaboration with the Supervisor and report challenges and potential solutions to the Supervisor

• Provide support to the Social Workers, Volunteers and Protection teams in the identification of people in need and provision of Psychological first aid, as well as working together on the quality interventions as required

• Maintain a focus on mental health promotion and improving access to relevant services through internal referrals and external referrals under the lead of the MHPSS Supervisor, follow-up and information-sharing

• Be respectful to the beneficiaries and their relatives, treating all people equally without discrimination, and ensuring confidentiality and obtaining consent at all times.

• Ensure proper implementation of the weekly workplan in collaboration with the MHPSS Supervisor for scheduled activities in predetermined locations

• Assess the level of psychological distress of beneficiaries identified as in-need of support and carry out rapid clinical assessment of mental health issues if required

• Provide emotional support, Psychological First Aid (PFA) or counselling to beneficiaries in need of support, though a trauma-sensitive approach

• Coordinate with the PUI teams on site to provide all the necessary information to the beneficiary for accessing the referral facility or services

• Record accurately and in a readable manner, the clinical records (both daily reports, assessments, follow-ups, evaluations and group sessions reports) of beneficiaries involved in MHPSS activities, ensuring confidentiality and obtaining consent at all times

• Ensure good reporting to and communication with the MHPSS Supervisor and Data Officer as appropriate

Our requirements

General information

The organisation

Première Urgence Internationale (PUI) is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-political and non-religious international aid organization. Our teams are committed to supporting civilians’ victims of marginalization and exclusion, or hit by natural disasters, wars and economic collapses, by answering their fundamental needs. Our aim is to provide emergency relief to uprooted people in order to help them recover their dignity and regain self-sufficiency. The association leads in average 200 projects by year in the following sectors of intervention: protection, MHPSS, food security, health, nutrition, construction and rehabilitation of infrastructures, water, sanitation, hygiene and economic recovery. PUI is providing assistance to around 7 million people in 21 countries – in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Eastern Europe and France.

Crisis context

Since the outbreak of the Russian military operation on the night of February 24, 44 million people are now directly impacted by the war in Ukraine.

Today, already more than one million Ukrainian refugees have fled the conflict across the Polish border. Our emergency team, currently based in southeastern Poland, finds that tens of thousands of refugees are crossing the Polish borders every day under very difficult conditions through three main checkpoints: the town of Medyka, Krościenko, and the train station in Przemyśl. Upon arrival, most Ukrainian refugees are extremely vulnerable. First of all, they are in possession of only the basic necessities that they were able to take with them when they left. In addition to the fatigue caused by the journey and the wait to cross the border, many refugees are already suffering from the mental and psychological consequences of war and exile. This emotional breakdown will be a major issue in the protection of refugees To the difficult conditions of exile that Ukrainian refugees undergo, their profile is particularly vulnerable. Indeed, as Ukrainian men between 18 and 60 years old have been requisitioned for the war, the vast majority of refugees are women, children, the elderly, and people who do not have Ukrainian nationality. As our teams on the ground have observed, they are experiencing great difficulty in accessing the protection and aid services deployed in the region.

Overall purpose

The Psychologist works as a primary mental health provider within a MHPSS team composed with Community Workers and Volunteers. He / She provides emergency psychological and emotional support of identified beneficiaries within Première Urgence Internationale’s Attention Points catchment area, in collaboration with the Protection team.

He / She identifies individuals in psychological distress, provides psychological first aid and emotional support in a trauma-sensitive manner and in a way that is adapted to an emergency context. He / She provides psychosocial assistance within the Safe Spaces with specific attention to the most vulnerable and supports recreative activities for children. He / She follows the recommendations of good practice of MHPSS services in a humanitarian context. He / She contributes to the mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) monitoring through proper data collection and data management.

Applications of Ukrainian Refugees are encouraged.

This job description may be subject to modifications in the future, depending on the evolution of the activities. These modifications will then be defined and discussed between the employee and Première Urgence Internationale.

In general, the employee will take all necessary actions for the correct development of Première Urgence Internationale activities in KRI in the limit of its tasks and responsibilities and of legal conditions of the work legislation.