Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Associate

The MHPSS Associate will support the implementation of mental health and psychosocial services within the health inclusion initiatives in Melkadida. The incumbent will work within a multidisciplinary team to ensure coordinated and holistic MHPSS programming integrated across health, protection, GBV, child protection, education, nutrition, and community-based protection sectors.

Responsibilities

• Support the implementation of quality Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) interventions integrated within public health and protection programming, in line with UNHCR operational guidance and international minimum standards, to enhance refugees’ inclusion and access to national MHPSS services.
• Support the facilitation and implementation of scalable MHPSS interventions, including but not limited to mhGAP, Problem Management Plus (PM+), Self-Help Plus (SH+), and community-based sociotherapy approaches.
• Assist in strengthening the capacity of staff, partners, health workers, and community structures through training, mentorship, and technical support on MHPSS-related interventions and referral pathways.
• Support community-based approaches including capacity strengthening initiatives.
• Support the identification, coordination, and implementation of suicide prevention and response activities, with technical guidance from MHPSS specialists and relevant technical personnel.
• Support the health facility transition and handover process by working closely with RRS, woreda health offices, and Somali Regional Health Bureau to progressively integrate MHPSS services into government-managed facilities.
• Provide technical support and facilitate capacity transfer to government health staff at facility level, ensuring continuity and quality of MHPSS services during the transition to government-led delivery, including mentoring on mhGAP and scalable interventions.
• Contribute to the development and implementation of transition plans, with a focus on strengthening integration of MHPSS into primary health care in line with national standards, and institutionalize referral pathways within government systems.
• Contribute to the assessment, monitoring, and analysis of country-level mental health and psychosocial support programmes to inform evidence-based programming and operational planning.
• Assist in documenting promising practices, operational experiences, lessons learned, and evidence-based approaches to strengthen MHPSS inclusion processes, strategic planning, program quality, and community resilience.

Requirements

• Minimum 2 years relevant work experience with a bachelor’s or equivalent or higher
• A bachelor’s degree in Psychiatry, Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology, mental health. Master’s degree is an added advantage.
• Experience implementing and coordinating MHPSS programmes in humanitarian or refugee settings.
• Proven experience in capacity building, mentoring, and use of technical tools for MHPSS, including training staff, partners, and community groups.
• Ability to integrate MHPSS across health, protection, GBV, child protection, education, and community-based programming.
• Demonstrated experience working with government health systems (woreda/regional), supporting service integration and transition to government-led delivery.
• Strong inter-agency coordination and stakeholder engagement skills, including collaboration with government and partners.
• Experience in facilitating scalable MHPSS interventions (mhGAP, PM+, SH+, sociotherapy).
• Experience in strengthening referral pathways and supporting suicide prevention and response activities.
• Experience in emergency preparedness, evidence-based programming, and documentation of lessons learned and best practices.
• Strong communication, analytical, and problem-solving skills, with commitment to protection principles and community resilience approaches.
• Working knowledge of the implementation of IASC Guidelines for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, familiarity with IASC Minimum Service Package (MSP) for MHPSS required (desirable)
• Familiarity with the refugee context, refugee coordination model, as well as with humanitarian appeals, humanitarian response plans, and common humanitarian funding mechanisms (desirable)
• Hands-on field experience at health facility level, covering service delivery, supervision, and quality improvement (desirable)
• Experience supporting health system strengthening, service integration, or transition from humanitarian to government-led service delivery, preferably in refugee or displacement contexts (desirable)
• Experience in training and implementing MHPSS tools, including Psychological First Aid (PFA), 4Ws mapping, and preferably mhGAP-HIG (desirable)
• Experience with scalable psychological interventions is an asset (desirable)
• Good understanding of integration of MHPSS in health, protection and other sectors, and experience in capacity building on the MHPSS Minimum Service Package (desirable)
• Previous professional experience working in Ethiopia, and in the forced displacement context is an added advantage (desirable)

Skills

• MHPSS Programme Implementation
• Capacity Building
• Mentorship
• Technical Tools for MHPSS
• Training Delivery
• Community-Based Programs
• Health System Integration
• Government Health Systems
• Inter-agency Coordination
• Stakeholder Engagement
• Scalable MHPSS Interventions
• Referral Pathways Development
• Suicide-Prevention
• Emergency Preparedness
• Evidence Based Programming
• Documentation of Good Practices
• IASC Guidelines Implementation
• Psychological First Aid
• 4Ws Mapping
• mhGAP-HIG