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Home / Mental Health Officer

Mental Health Officer

Kenny Karpov

Being a mental health officer (MHO) with MSF is an intense but rewarding job. 
 
From providing psychological first aid to survivors of natural disasters to counselling HIV patients, our MHOs play a vital role in our projects. Trauma is often the most painful aspect of surviving a conflict or disaster, or living with a disease, and mental healthcare is vital for recovery.

Responsibilities 

Our MHOs often head a group of outreach workers and counsellors, providing care in the health facilities but also out in the community. 

It’s a challenging and exciting role and you would be responsible for some or all of the following:

  • Doing a community mental health assessment
  • Planning a mental health strategy
  • Managing mental healthcare for an entire hospital/project
  • Providing care for victims of sexual violence
  • Supporting groups of displaced people
  • Identifying and managing protection issues

Requirements

  • Postgraduate education in one of the following: Clinical Psychology or Psychiatry along with 2 years post qualification experience
  • Currently licensed to practice  one of the above areas with independent licensed clinical practice
  • Experience in managing and training mental health workers
  • Experience in the clinical supervision of others and treating trauma related problems
  • Able to work well as a part of a multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary team
  •  Willing to work in unstable areas and ability to cope in a difficult and unpredictable environment
  • Available for a minimum of nine to twelve months
  • Minimum of three months’ work, volunteering or travelling experience in developing countries
  • Fluency in English is essential
Desirable
  • A second language (preferably French, Arabic, Spanish or Portuguese)
  • Experience working in the field of HIV/AIDS, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), sexual violence, Tuberculosis (TB) care
  • Experience with emergency mental health/crisis interv

Is climate change making you sick?

MSF is an equal opportunity employer and does not charge any application, recruitment, medical examination or training fees. 

MSF is committed to giving staff working in their home countries opportunities to take their valuable experience to work in our projects overseas.

If you are an MSF member of staff working in Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia or Sudan who is interested in working outside of your home country, please approach your HR coordinator for details. They will be able to advise on the process, the criteria and where to apply – via our website or directly with the headquarter office you are currently working for.