Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialist

Background/Context

UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of discrimination against women and girls, the empowerment of women, and the achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security. 

Starting on September 23 2024, Lebanon experienced the most significant escalation of hostilities with Israel since the 2006 War. Intense Israeli airstrikes coupled with evacuation orders to residents in areas across Lebanon, including in eastern and southern Lebanon and the southern suburbs of Beirut, resulted in mass displacement and heightened socioeconomic vulnerabilities among the affected populations. As of November 24, 2024, close to 900,000 individuals were tracked as displaced due to the violent conflict; women and girls made up 51 per cent of the internally displaced population. Of an estimated 260,000 households, nearly 21 per cent were women-led. The conflict also took a profound toll on people's lives and has disproportionately impacted women and girls in Lebanon, including women-headed households and women with disabilities in areas such as food security, shelter, WASH, Mental Health and Protection, including Gender Based Violence and Violence against Women. 

Since the start of the conflict, the Ministry of Social Affairs (MoSA) in Lebanon has played a central role in responding to the displacement and humanitarian needs of the crisis-affected population and host communities. MoSA social workers, the majority of whom are women, were on the front lines, working to ensure those affected receive the lifesaving support and assistance they need. In addition to providing emotional care, social workers are trained to assess immediate needs, whether securing emergency shelters or coordinating and overseeing assistance and service distribution. In addition, specialized social workers played a critical role in identifying and conducting case management for child protection and gender-based violence survivors. Social workers were indispensable in ensuring that vulnerable displaced populations, including women, children, older people, and those with disabilities, were not overlooked in the humanitarian relief efforts. In parallel, many were among those displaced by the conflict but remained committed to their work regardless of the toll that displacement put on them and their families. The stressful work conditions of social workers can contribute to burnout, vicarious trauma, and compassion fatigue and hence require mental health and psychosocial support and self-care to enable them to cope with the emerging situation and continue supporting affected and vulnerable groups. The sessions should focus on detecting and dealing with signs and symptoms of common mental health problems that emerge during or after war, learning and practicing self-care techniques, relaxation techniques, understanding and dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, grief and loss, dealing with secondary trauma and compassion fatigue, improving self-resilience, coping and healing strategies, understanding body and mindset, and establishing professional boundaries. 

Description of Responsibilities/ Scope of Work 

Under the overall supervision of the Programme Management Specialist and day to day supervision of the Social Inclusion Technical Advisor, UN Women seeks to recruit a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Specialist (MHPSS) to conduct PSS sessions for around 60 MoSA social workers. The sessions should focus on detecting and dealing with signs and symptoms of common mental health problems that emerge during or after war, learning and practicing self-care techniques, relaxation techniques, understanding and dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, grief and loss, dealing with secondary trauma and compassion fatigue, improving self-resilience, coping and healing strategies, understanding body and mindset, and establishing professional boundaries.The specialist is expected to conduct a needs assessment to identify the needs of social workers, develop tailored PSS sessions covering various topics, and deliver them.

Deliverables:

The MHPSS specialist is expected to:

1. Conduct a needs assessment to understand the specific psychosocial challenges social workers face in their current roles and identify gaps in existing PSS knowledge and skills among the social workers. The needs assessment should be based on a short online survey with social workers, followed by two or three FGDs to confirm the findings and fill gaps. The findings should be presented in a needs assessment report and should conclude by proposing a tailored PSS program agenda extending over two days per session.
2. Develop a tailored and advanced PSS training program