Egypt: Psychologist

Job Description: StARS services

StARS’ Psychosocial Program (PS) assists refugee adults and children in overcoming barriers to meeting their basic needs. PS focuses on health, mental health, and social needs, such as shelter, security, and community support. StARS PS has teams providing individual psychosocial support to adults and families; individual psychosocial support to unaccompanied children and youth (UCY); medical advocacy; runs an intensive education and psychosocial program for unaccompanied children who are unable to access formal education; delivers group activities where people can find additional support and access relevant information for their psychosocial well-being.

StARS Refugee Legal Aid Program (RLAP) assists refugees in issues relating to their refugee status determination before United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), including preparing refugees for their interviews and representing them on appeal. RLAP also screens and refers vulnerable refugees to UNHCR for resettlement, and for those with serious protection needs (including detention).

StARS Education Program comprises of a Children’s Education Program (primary and secondary school for over 250 children), three pre-schools for children aged 2 – 6, an Adult Education Program (offering part-time language and vocational courses), and a Capacity Building Program (running professional development courses for refugees, and teacher training programs).

StARS Outreach Program works with refugee communities and community-based organisations, providing information and advice to communities, as well as capacity building on program management activities.

StARS runs its programs through 18 different teams, comprised of over 230 staff, of whom more than 85% are refugees themselves or from forcibly displaced communities. 25% of StARS staff are youth staff aged 18 -21 who arrived in Egypt as unaccompanied children (without their parents). StARS also has support from around 100 part-time and full-time volunteers. StARS’ working language is English, however many staff and clients are Arabic speakers, and speak a range of languages from their countries of origin.

Role: Psychologist

Under the supervision of the Director of Psychosocial Services, the Psychologist will be responsible for strengthening StARS’ ability to respond to clients’ mental health needs, as well as supporting the well-being of StARS staff. This will include advising psychosocial workers and legal advisors on addressing mental health needs of their clients, training staff on mental health issues, taking a small caseload of particularly vulnerable clients, running one-to-one and group staff counselling sessions, and supervising the part-time psychology (staff counselling) intern.

This is a fixed term (one year) position, suitable for graduates of psychology masters’ programs interested in gaining in-depth experience working with refugees in a challenging urban context.

Responsibilities

Support and training on client mental health needs

· Leads on mental health related trainings throughout the organization in line with international standards

· Conducts training for StARS psychosocial staff in basic counseling skills

· Conducts training for legal advisors on the impacts of trauma

· Provides advice and guidance to psychosocial workers and legal advisors in cases where mental health is a key issue

· Maintains a small caseload of clients with mental health needs

· Prepares reports on the mental health situation of clients for use in refugee status determination and resettlement proceedings

Staff counseling

· Provides one-to-one and group staff counseling sessions, at all times maintaining a caseload of 8 – 15 staff clients and two regular groups

· Upon request, performs individual assessments in the case of staff members experiencing difficulty coping and/or presenting mental health-related symptoms

· Advises when to refer for external mental health support

· Design and regularly implements stress management training to all staff members

Peer support and team building

· Design and plan peer support groups for different programs

· Facilitates peer support groups when appropriate

· Oversee the current implementation of team building initiatives

· Advises on relevant measures that could further support current practices

Supervisory

· Provides group supervision for psychosocial workers for cases where mental health related advice is considered appropriate

· Provides monthly supervision for the staff counseling intern(s).

· Attends monthly supervision sessions with supervisor, accepting feedback and direction.

· Accesses regular external clinical supervision.

Administrative tasks

● Organizes client appointments and logistics involved across the organization informing supervisor as required.

● Keep an accurate record of sessions held, in line with StARS data recording procedures.

● Develops and records treatment plans for relevant cases.

● Develops written guidance documents for staff counseling, staff training, and client mental health support.

● Set up and/or tidy down rooms as counseling space.

● Reports monthly on progress to supervisor.

● Contributes towards internal and external reports as required.

● Other duties as assigned.

Qualifications and experience

● Fluency in speaking and writing English is essential. Fluency in Arabic is highly desired. Ability to speak other languages commonly found in displaced populations will be an asset.

● Master’s degree in Psychology.

● Previous clinical experience (whether in placements during study, or externally), preferably with experience in multi-cultural environments.

● Broad knowledge of the field of counseling, including an understanding of trauma and its effects.

● Proven ability to manage emergency situations, or respond suitably and calmly in times of crisis.

● Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality, sexuality, and age sensitivity and tolerance.

● Strong sense of confidentiality.

● An ability to manage own self-care.

Supervised by: Director of Psychosocial Services

Hours: Full-time, 40 hours a week, Sunday to Thursday 9:00am – 5:00pm.

Salary: 6,300 EGP/month, rising to 6,800 EGP/month following successful completion of a three-month probationary period.

Benefits: All StARS official benefit policies as stipulated in StARS Staff Handbook Manual.

Contract length: One year

Send a Motivation Letter and CV outlining why you are interested in the role and how you meet the qualifications and characteristics needed for the position by 20 January 2018 to applications@stars-egypt.org using the subject line “Psychologist”.