GLOBALOBJECTIVES OF THE POSITION:

Under the supervision of the project officer, with strong functional links with the PSS Technical Advisor, the psychosocial worker (PSW) will provide community-based services to individuals, families and groups affected by the conflict upsurge in Herat through mobile team intervention outside of the provincial capitals.

 The PSW will:

• Provide quality assessment of specific psychological and psychosocial needs of persons with disabilities and of vulnerable persons experiencing psychological distress and/or mental health issues,) including children and their caregivers, in close coordination and collaboration with the Physiotherapist.
• Support persons with psychological distress by providing a quality direct response to the psychosocial and psychological needs identified, through individual, family or group interventions within the Handicap International comprehensive approach.
• Provide indirect response through referrals to stakeholders working in social, protection, psychosocial and mental health sectors or any other relevant sectors according to the needs of the beneficiaries (including close follow-up on the process and response)- in close collaboration with the social worker.

RESPONSIBILITIES AND TASKS DESCRIPTION:

1. In order to improve the rehabilitation process, assess the psychosocial issues and capacities of the beneficiaries and identify their needs in terms of psychological and psychosocial support in close collaboration with the PTs and P&Os:

• Conduct visits to individuals and families, including children, in the community and/or in hospital or other service facilities if required.
• During the visits, handle a first identification (screening) of PSS and Rehab needs
• Identify the nature and severity of psychosocial/psychological needs through the MHPSS assessment
• Fill the different assessments and referral forms, when required,  according to the assessment’s criteria
• According to the outcomes of the assessment of the beneficiaries’ needs, elaborate an appropriate action plan and, when required, ensure a proper coordination with the Social Worker, The MRE Workers and the project's Physiotherapist.

2. Offer secure and appropriate psychosocial support

• Provide psychosocial services based on the informed consent of the beneficiary and adapted to her/his needs, taking into account the limitations of the emergency responses.
• Actively involve the beneficiaries at all stages of the assessment and response, in order to ensure the relevance and sustainability of the intervention.
• Detect any evolution of the cases and modify the action plan accordingly or refer to a relevant colleague or another stakeholder
• Use secure , respectful and ethical methods when working with any beneficiary
• Ensure a proper follow up of the cases
• Engage your responsibility when you provide any service to the beneficiary
• Provide appropriate psychosocial sessions to identified persons or households in need, including children, through family, groups and individual based approaches in coordination, when required, with the Physiotherapist and the Social Workers
• Use various communication means (written, spoken, etc.) during activities to ensure the self-expression of the beneficiaries
• Facilitate inclusive activities
• Identify his/her own limits and ask for support before any acts that could cause harm to beneficiary

3. Refer beneficiary to other services when needed:

• Identify needs for referrals to other relevant stakeholders and monitor referrals conducted in coordination with the Social Workers, the Physiotherapist and/or the Project Officer.
• Recognize emergency situation or situations that need immediate medical care or protection measure and react in consequence making efforts to ensure that beneficiary get the appropriate services in close collaboration with the Social Workers

4. Record, Report, develop the tools and planning

• Maintain complete individual files for each person, including detailed descriptions of services provided and evolution of the case
• Ensure that complete beneficiary pack is properly filled and signed
• Write case studies on beneficiaries and activities of the project
• Respect all guidelines and documentation within the project; keep data records for each individual and group sessions
• Document any protection concerns and report them to your line manager
• Ensure a daily quantitative and qualitative reporting through the tools (assessment form, follow up form, discharge and monitoring form, donation certificate) and system in place
• Provide any other reports to be made upon line manager request
• Participate to the improvement of the activities protocol, tools and guidelines to ensure a comprehensive intervention of quality
• Actively participate to all the project meeting, technical follow-up, internal and external trainings related to your position according to your line manager instructions
• Contribute to the organization of the weekly plan within the multidisciplinary team, with the support of the team leader

5. To build other team members’ and partners’ member’s capacities

• Work in a constructive way with the Physiotherapists, MRE workers and the Social Workers
• Provide technical advices for hospital or other humanitarian partners' staffs as per request of your line manager
• Provide training or sensitization sessions on MHPSS issues (notably related to new physical disabilities)

6. Materials Management

• Identify material, equipment, recreational kit needed, timely formulate requests, and ensure appropriate use/distribution

7. Demonstrate willingness to improve professional competences and abilities to increase care quality:

• Demonstrate motivation at work.
• Demonstrate willingness to improve his/her own knowledge and skills by participating actively in any training sessions, capacity building activities…
• Participate in the different activities that are common to all team members (identification of needs of beneficiaries, internal and/or external referrals)
• Respect each team member’s positions, work, and specificity
• Adapt to special situations or demands from supervisor (reporting, etc.)

8. Respect hygiene and security rules

• The Psychosocial Worker respects and applies basic hygiene rules;
• He/she maintains equipment clean and secured.
• He/she observes at all times strict commitment to Handicap International Security & Safety regulations as per procedures in place at mission level
• He/she supports information internal dissemination to relevant focal persons at mission level aiming at reinforcing security and safety of Handicap International staff and assets

9. Demonstrate an ethics and professional practice:

• Show professional ethics, respect and promote Handicap International mandate
• Among others, he/she respects beneficiary’s privacy and confidentiality (he/she only share medical information with medical staff/persons directly involved in beneficiary’s care)
• Respect the Handicap International protection of children policy and protection of beneficiaries from sexual exploitation and abuse policyand report to your line manager any non-respect of HI’s policies amongst the teams or partners.
• Report any incident or act that causes any harm to beneficiary or to others.
• Always interact with children with the presence of their parents or caregivers
• Always respect a refusal of service.
• Work with the best of knowledge and abilities to offer a good quality psychosocial support
• Show abilities and competences to execute an efficient rehabilitation intervention.