Volunteer, MH Clinician (domestic)

Volunteer, MH Clinician (domestic), Global Health

Location: United States

Project HOPE is an international NGO with more than 1,000 engaged employees and volunteers who work around the globe, responding to the world's most pressing global health challenges. Throughout our 60-year legacy, Project HOPE has treated millions of patients, provided more than $3 billion worth of medicines to local health care organizations around the world helped build hundreds of health programs from the ground up, and responded to humanitarian crises worldwide.

Code of Conduct: It is our shared responsibility and obligation to treat each other with respect, take affirmative steps to prevent matters involving Sexual Exploitation & Abuse and Trafficking in Persons, and to disclose all potential and actual violations of our Code of Conduct, which may include Conflicts of Interest, Fraud, Corruption, Discrimination or Harassment. Together we can reinforce a culture of respect, integrity, accountability, and transparency. Roster members will be contacted only when there is an emergency-response need for which the responder is qualified. This position will not be compensated unless responders are deployed to an emergency response.

Program Summary: The Volunteer, MH Clinician (domestic) will be responsible for providing mental health and psychosocial support services in a community-based and/or clinic setting. They will be responsible for providing crisis interventions and brief behavioral health counseling, including adult, adolescent and pediatric services, for both chronic and acute conditions. They are expected to triage patients, ensure smooth patient flow, provide crisis intervention and stabilization for patients and staff, clinical behavioral health care, assist with referrals as needed and provide behavioral health, health education and hygiene promotion.

Main Tasks and Responsibilities:

• Provide crisis intervention and clinical behavioral health services for disaster-affected populations according to nationally accepted standards and guidelines.
• Ensure patients are accurately registered and recorded for reporting and case management.
• Ensure proper data management through completion of appropriate patient cards, registers, tally sheets, and reports; contribute to daily reporting as directed by the MHPSS Coordinator and Team Lead.
• Monitor behavioral and diagnostic trends, report to supervisor as appropriate.
• Provide behavioral health education and hygiene promotion to patients based on their presentation, pre-existing diagnoses, and co-morbidities such as diet, activity, hygiene, etc.
• Attend physical examination of sexual assault patients, as needed.
• Work with the deployed emergency response team, which may include the medical team and support staff, to build capacity and enhance their crisis intervention skills.
• Collaborate with other departments as needed to ensure smooth implementation and integration of services.
• Adhere to administrative directives regarding work schedules, record keeping, and patient communications.
• Provide all services free of charge.
• MHPSS staff will be assigned additional duties as needed in the response.

General: Deployed personnel are expected to assist with the setup, maintenance and demobilization of the clinical spaces, office spaces and base camp as required. Policy Adherence: Actively promote PSEA (prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse) standards within Project HOPE and among beneficiaries served by Project HOPE. Adhere to the Code of Conduct. Perform other duties as assigned. The duties and responsibilities listed in this document are representative of the nature and level of work assigned and not necessarily all inclusive.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Typically, a Medical degree or Psychiatric Nursing degree with complete residency and current license/registration to practice medicine or psychiatric nursing. Equivalent combination of relevant education and experience may be substituted as appropriate.
• Typically, 5+ years' experience working on MHPSS programs, with minimum 3 years clinical experience in a hospital and / or community based mental health, preferably in humanitarian/low resource settings.
• Experience training and capacity building of health professionals.
• Strong organizational and supervisory skills.
• Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to work within different cultural environments.
• Honest, hard-working and a self-motivated person.
• Ability to work within a team structure or in isolation, flexible, and can cope with stressful workloads and working with limited resources.

Additional Technical or Language Requirements: In addition to the responsibilities mentioned above, candidates may be asked to temporarily live and work in austere conditions at the start of an emergency response in the US. Lifting moderately heavy objects from the ground, carrying a backpack for extended periods of time, and walking or hiking in remote locations may be necessary to perform these functions. Project HOPE is a first responder to climate-related and man-made disasters and has a mandate of working in remote locations. The organization has a comprehensive security management policy and plan in place and is committed to doing everything possible within its remit to ensure safety and security. Notwithstanding, the mandate and programming choices of Project HOPE require staff members who have a high degree of resilience, extremely decisive qualities and the ability to move fast.