Mental Health & Psychosocial Support Officer

TITLE:  Mental Health & Psychosocial Support Officer
TEAM/PROGRAMME:     LOCATION: Borno Nigeria
GRADE:  4    CONTRACT LENGTH: 6 months

CHILD SAFEGUARDING: 
Level 3:  the post holder will have contact with children and/or young people either frequently (e.g. once a week or more) or intensively (e.g. four days in one month or more or overnight) because they work country programs; or are visiting country programs; or because they are responsible for implementing the police checking/vetting process staff.

ROLE PURPOSE:

The MHPSS Officer is responsible for the day-to-day implementation, monitoring, and quality assurance of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) interventions for children, adolescents, caregivers, and communities. The post holder will ensure the effective delivery of HEART (Healing and Education through the Arts) and other psychosocial support activities, strengthen community-based MHPSS services, support capacity building of staff and partners, and contribute to the integration of MHPSS across Child Protection, Education, Health, Nutrition, and Emergency programmes.

SCOPE OF ROLE: 
Reports to: MHPSS Coordinator

Staff reporting to this post: None
Indirect: Case Workers, Child Friendly Space facilitators, Community Mobilizers conducting MHPSS activities.

Role Dimensions:
(e.g. complexity, relationships, communication with stakeholders)

Leads the implementation and quality delivery of Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) activities, including psychosocial support services, referrals, capacity strengthening, stakeholder coordination, and programme reporting, to improve the well-being and resilience of vulnerable individuals and communities.

KEY AREAS OF ACCOUNTABILITY:

•    Implement and monitor quality MHPSS activities, including HEART, psychosocial support groups, life skills, and caregiver support sessions.
•    Supervise structured psychosocial support activities for children, adolescents, caregivers, and communities.
•    Train, mentor, and provide supportive supervision to facilitators, volunteers, teachers, and community workers on HEART, PFA, and basic MHPSS approaches.
•    Identify vulnerable children and caregivers and ensure safe and timely referrals to specialized mental health, protection, and social services.
•    Support MHPSS assessments, programme planning, implementation, and integration with Child Protection, Education, Health, and Nutrition programmes.
•    Conduct regular field monitoring visits to ensure programme quality and adherence to standards.
•    Collect, manage, and report programme data, ensuring confidentiality and compliance with data protection requirements.
•    Document lessons learned, success stories, and best practices to support programme learning and donor reporting.
•    Coordinate with government authorities, community structures, partners, schools, and health facilities to strengthen MHPSS service delivery.
•    Promote community participation, resilience, and awareness of mental health and psychosocial well-being.
•    Support staff well-being initiatives and encourage self-care among frontline workers and volunteers.
•    Ensure compliance with Child Safeguarding, PSEA, Code of Conduct, and humanitarian principles at all times.

Must indicate at least one (1) safeguarding responsibility

BEHAVIOURS (Values in Practice)
Accountability:
•    holds self-accountable for making decisions, managing resources efficiently, achieving and role modelling Save the Children values
•    holds the team and partners accountable to deliver on their responsibilities - giving them the freedom to deliver in the best way they see fit, providing the necessary development to improve performance and applying appropriate consequences when results are not achieved.
Ambition:
•    sets ambitious and challenging goals for themselves and their team, takes responsibility for their own personal development and encourages their team to do the same
•    widely shares their personal vision for Save the Children, engages and motivates others
•    future orientated, thinks strategically and on a global scale.
Collaboration:
•    builds and maintains effective relationships, with their team, colleagues, Members and external partners and supporters
•    values diversity, sees it as a source of competitive strength
•    approachable, good listener, easy to talk to.
Creativity:
•    develops and encourages new and innovative solutions
•    willing to take disciplined risks.
Integrity:
•    honest, encourages openness and transparency; demonstrates highest levels of integrity
QUALIFICATIONS  
Bachelor’s degree in psychology, Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology, Social Work, Mental Health, Psychiatric Nursing, Public Health, or a related field.

EXPERIENCE AND SKILLS
•    Minimum 2-3 years of relevant experience implementing Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) programs in humanitarian, development, or community settings. 
•    Experience providing psychosocial support, case management, Psychological First Aid (PFA), and referrals for vulnerable populations. 
•    Experience working with children, adolescents, caregivers, women, and conflict-affected communities. 
•    Previous experience with NGOs/INGOs, particularly in emergency or displacement contexts, is desirable.
•    Knowledge of IASC Guidelines on Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings. 
•    Strong understanding of psychosocial support interventions, psychological first aid, community-based MHPSS, and safe referral pathways.
•    Strong facilitation and training skills. 
•    Excellent communication and interpersonal skills. 
•    Ability to work effectively with diverse communities and stakeholders.

Additional job responsibilities

Equal Opportunities 
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI Equal Opportunities and Diversity policies and procedures.
Child Safeguarding:
We need to keep children safe so our selection process, which includes rigorous background checks, reflects our commitment to the protection of children from abuse.
Safeguarding our Staff:
The post holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with the SCI anti-harassment policy

Health and Safety
The role holder is required to carry out the duties in accordance with SCI Health and Safety policies and procedures.