The International Rescue Committee, one of the world’s largest humanitarian agencies, provides relief, rehabilitation, and post-conflict support to victims of oppression and violent conflict in 42 countries. IRC is committed to ambitious leadership, innovation, and creative partnerships. The IRC restarted operations in Sudan in November 2019 after successfully obtaining re-registration in Khartoum with the transitional government and launching initial programs to support displaced populations in urban settings around Khartoum. Sudan is currently experiencing multiple challenges that include macroeconomic crisis, armed conflicts and displacement, protracted refugee situations, natural disasters, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic. The result of this crisis is large-scale humanitarian need across the country leaving an estimated 9.3 million people in need. In November 2020, fighting in the Tigray region of Ethiopia led to the flight of around 60,000 refugees to eastern Sudan, further worsening the humanitarian need. In response to growing needs in recent months, the IRC has established a fully functional country program following on the work initially done through the emergency response team and expanded humanitarian activities in the east of the country in response to the Tigrayan refugee crisis. The IRC currently has two field bases in Gedaref and Damazine in addition to the head office in Khartoum, and in line with the newly developed three-year Strategic Action Plan that runs from FY2022 to FY2024, the IRC will continue strengthening ongoing programming in Khartoum, Gedaref and Blue Nile states and undertake programmatic expansion to new states including Kassala, South Kordofan and South Darfur states. 

The Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) Officer will work under the direction and support of the health manager in the Gadarif and a Psychiatrist. The Mental Health Officer’s primary responsibilities include providing oversight of the psychosocial components of the mental health and psychosocial program and implementing counselling services in the health facilities that run by IRC in Tunaydbah . This position will be based in Tunaydbah refugee camp in Gadarif state.

• lead the process of integration of mental health and psychosocial support into general health care in the PHC facilities. 
• Provide psychosocial support services such as conducting psychoeducation sessions linked to general health care clinics
• Review MHPSS cases seen by the clinicians and provide specialized psychotherapy for complicated cases as may be required.
• Support and collaborate with psychiatrist in facilitation of the mhGAP training and supervision of the primary health care staff.
• Select, provide training and supervision for community volunteers such as PFA , PM+ and peer group therapy
• Develop culturally appropriate psychosocial activities, including social support activities targeting the community.  These include, but are not limited to training in psychological first aid, designing holistic recreational, vocational and social activities; development of material for awareness campaigns;
• Serve as the primary point of contact between IRC and local partners involved in psychosocial activities.
• Provide culturally appropriate counselling services to the target population with mental illness or experiencing psychosocial challenges in accordance with professional ethics and best practices.
• Strengthen community-facility referral system for target population with psychosocial needs.
• Work in keeping with IASC guidelines on mental health and psychosocial support and promote guidelines where appropriate.
• Provide oversight, direct and supervise activities of IRC supported psychosocial team.
• Coordinate/ensure activities with relevant Government Authorities, International and National Organizations, including standardized reporting practices.
• Organize and lead workshop about mental health for the patients with psychiatric problems, their families, care givers and community members in general to promote mental health. 
• Work closely with other mental health and psychosocial staff to ensure coordinated activities. 
• Develop and organize consultation workshop with the indigenous healers, religious leaders, and refugee representatives
• Collaborate with informal service providers such as natural healers to facilitate information sharing and referral of mental health cases
• Collaborate with community and existing institutional structures to ensure protection of those suffering mental illness
• Compile information and prepare written reports as necessary
• Organize public awareness and de-stigmatization campaigns around mental health issues on a periodic base involving community volunteers and implementing partners
• Liaise with the data officer responsible for the health management information system (HMIS) and M&E colleagues to ensure proper collection and analysis of MHPSS data
• Identify clinic trends and develop mitigation measures to address programmatic gaps and improve overall quality of care
• Participate in surveys and health assessment to identify MHPSS risk factors in the affected communities and tailor the project to address such gaps
• Implement other activities as per.

• Master’s degree in Clinical Psychology with at least 3 years of counselling and social work experience
• At least 2 years of mental health and psychosocial programming experience
• In depth knowledge and experience of mental health and psychosocial programming in the humanitarian context essential.
• Experience in managing and training mental health workers especially in WHO psychosocial interventions like mhgap, PM+ , PFA and group peer interpersonal psychotherapy for depression.
• Experience in the clinical supervision of others and treating trauma related problems
• Experience in providing specialized psychotherapy such as Cognitive behavior therapy 
• Familiarity with IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support In Emergency Settings
• Proven counselling skills
• Strong organizational and supervisory skills.
• Strong writing and reporting skills.
•  Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work within different cultural environments.
• Fluency in written and spoken English required
• Sudanese national

Standard of Professional Conduct

IRC and IRC employees are required to abide by the values and principles outlined in the IRC Way – Code of Conduct which are Integrity, Service, and Accountability. In accordance with these values, IRC operates and enforces policies on Beneficiary Protection from Exploitation and Abuse, Child Safeguarding, Harassment-Free Workplace, Fiscal Integrity, Anti-Retaliation, Combating Trafficking in Persons and several others.

Gender Equality & Equal Opportunity

We are committed to narrowing the gender gap in leadership positions. We offer generous benefits that provide an enabling environment for women to participate in our workforce including parental leave, gender-sensitive security protocols and other supportive benefits and allowances. We welcome and strongly encourage qualified female professionals to apply.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our organization. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, color, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, or disability status.