Psychologist

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.

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.

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.