Mental Health Psychosocial Assistant Full Time NEW

Position Title: Mental Health Psychosocial Assistant

Reports to: Mental Health Psychosocial Community Worker

Department: Mental Health

Work Location: Pleebo, Maryland County

Employment Type:

Grant Funded

Position Overview:

The Mental Health and Psychosocial Assistant (MHPSSA) must be able to speak the local language, be willing and able to serve in the position, and demonstrate a strong likelihood of remaining in the role long-term. He or she should be well-respected within the community and possess sound moral character. The MHPSSA must also be available, committed, punctual, and responsible in carrying out assigned duties.

The MHPSSA will receive training to administer certain medications, oversee patient care and follow-ups, identify warning signs, and provide psychosocial support and counselling to clients, patients, and their families. Additionally, the MHPSSA will educate the community about common mental illnesses, provide care for homeless patients, reduce stigma, and help rebuild trust in health facilities.

The role also includes referring patients for immediate medical attention and follow-up care. Furthermore, the Community Psychosocial Assistant will support ongoing prevention efforts, provide daily medication for homeless patients, conduct home visits, monitor patients for side effects, raise awareness about mental health conditions, refer suspected cases, and contribute to overall disease monitoring within their assigned communities.

Essential Duties and Responsibilities:

• Accompany the CHPs and CHVs to the field and ensure all protocols are followed in patient care and clinic appointments are followed;
• Organize and encourage or, if necessary, carry the patient to attend support group and focus group meetings;
• Provide moral and psychological support to CHPs and CHVs, patients and their families;
• Promote early care seeking for other family or community members with illnesses (e.g. Malaria, epilepsy, heart spoil, typhoid, suicidal tendencies etc.);
• Notify the coordinator or program manager about any vulnerable member of the community members who are unable to come to the clinic;
• Embrace new responsibilities and training for care of other general health concerns (e.g.

Nutrition, Infection Control and Prevention, insecticide-treated net distribution for malaria control, anaemia screening, etc.);

• Attend every weekly mental health meeting and monthly focus group meetings with patients; Identify health problems (danger signs), deaths, medication non-adherence, record reasons and do reports.
• Provide adherence counseling;
• MHPSSA will provide counseling to patient and family;

•Referrals to the mental health facilities;

• Record all medications doses daily each visit according to Home Visit Form;
• Record details of each visit on Home Visit Form;
• Submit home visit reports every month to mental health psychosocial worker.
• Important: Listen to the patient’s preferences and do not be forceful. If he/she does not want to meet in the home, walk with the patient to fetch water, meet at the market, or on the street;
• Provide daily medication and hygiene care for homeless patients
• Education community on mental health conditions
• Work with stakeholders
• Perform other tasks that maybe required by psychosocial supervisor/ worker.

Academic Qualification

• Minimum high school graduate, preferably a professional health worker (community health worker). A Public health qualification or background will be an added advantage.

Experience and Expertise

Technical Competencies

• Minimum of 3 years of work experience, preferably in a rural, community health or community mental health setting.
• Strong knowledge and education to help communities better understand mental health conditions and reduce stigma.
• Ability to provide various forms counselling, including: Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Substance abuse counselling and Behavior change counselling
• Supporting treatment adherence, including pill counting, monitoring patient progress, and tracing patients lost to follow up.
• Conducting needs assessments and mental health-related screenings, including identifying signs of psychosocial distress and nutritional needs when relevant.
• Proficiency in Microsoft Word and Excel for data entry, reporting, and patient record management.
• Personal and palliative care including home visits and home-based care, dispensing drugs for opportunistic infections;
• Demonstrated advanced critical thinking and problem solving skills.

Behavioural Competencies

• Ability to maintain confidential information in a professional manner , highly developed analytical skills
• Interpersonal Skill – Strong people and communication skills, open, accommodative and pleasant personality
• Team Management- Team player, ability to groom and manage a dynamic team and support others in team building initiatives.
• A skilled collaborator who is able to work effectively with diverse communities.

Organizational Profile:

Partners In Health (PIH) is a non-profit, global health organization that fights social injustice by bringing the benefits of modern medical science first and foremost to the most vulnerable communities around the world. PIH focuses on those who would not otherwise have access to quality health care. PIH partners with the world’s leading academic institutions to create rigorous evidence that shapes more sound and all-inclusive global health policies. PIH also supports local governments’ efforts to build capacity and strengthen national health systems.

As of today, PIH runs programs in 11 countries (Haiti, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mexico, Navajo Nation, Peru, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, United States), where it provides direct care to millions of patients, through public facilities and community engagement. PIH was invited by the Government of Liberia in 2014 to respond to the Ebola Virus Outbreak and thereafter accompany the Government to rebuild the health system. PIH Liberia works shoulder-to-shoulder with the Ministry of Health to strengthen person-centered primary health care systems in the rural Southeastern part of the country with the aim of establishing Maryland County as a model for universal health care through innovative community-based rural service delivery.

PIH is committed to the fundamental principle of equal opportunity and equal treatment for every prospective and current employee. PIH prohibits sexual exploitation, harassment and abuse and all forms of discrimination, including on the basis of race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, religion, creed, disability, sex and gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and/or expression, military or veteran status, or any other characteristic protected under applicable federal, state or local law. PIH works in and with a number of governments in and outside the U.S., and to the extent applicable, this statement is intended to incorporate the prohibition of any unlawful discrimination covered by applicable laws in such countries, states and municipalities.

Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse:

At Partners In Health, we are committed to ensuring that those who benefit from our work- including our patients, families and community members –as well as our staff are treated with dignity and respect and protected from sexual exploitation, abuse and sexual harassment. A range of pre-employment checks will be undertaken in conformity with Partner In Health’s PSEAH policy. Partners In Health will request information from applicants’ previous employers about any findings of sexual exploitation, sexual abuse and/or sexual harassment during employment, or incidents under investigation when the applicant left employment. By submitting an application, the job applicant confirms their understanding of these recruitment procedures.

Social Justice

We are a global health and social justice organization that responds to the moral imperative to provide high-quality health care globally to those who need it most. We strive to ease suffering by placing patients at the center of all care, bringing the benefits of modern medicine to all.

Tagged as: Liberia, Partners in Health