Psycho-social Counselor at Center for Victims of Torture

In collaboration with site team and under the supervision of the PSC Peer Supervisor(s) and Clinician(s) the PSC will:

Render psycho-social services to individuals, groups and communities to assist them to recover from the effects of torture and war trauma.

Progressive responsibility according to training and experience level in:

• Providing comprehensive psycho-social support to survivors of war trauma and torture who have sought assistance by completing an initial screening and intake assessment; individual and group treatment plans; case management including timely referral, follow-up, and advocacy if necessary; home visits; and follow-up assessments.
• Carrying out individual or family counseling sessions with clients affected by war trauma or torture.
• Facilitating of group counseling processes, including selection of group members, planning the group process, and group facilitation.
• Providing interpretation between clients and other CVT staff members when needed.
• Ensuring that all required documentation is competed in a timely and professional manner.
• Ensuring that all work with clients is confidential and that ethical practices are observed at all times.

Develop the community’s awareness, understanding and engagement with the issues relating to mental health, war trauma, and torture.

• Assist in planning and implementing community mental health, war trauma and torture awareness and education campaigns and programs.
• Sensitize, problem solve, dialogue, and mediate with the wider population about the issues of the war, torture, trauma and traumatized people in order to raise understanding, develop coping strategies and encourage those who need psycho-social services to approach CVT.

Make the CVT services known and accessible to people whose psycho-social functioning has been impaired by their experiences of torture and war trauma.

• Identify children, teenagers, men, and women whose psycho-social functioning may have been affected by war related experiences and encourage them to approach CVT for support.
• Develop the referral systems and encourage collaboration between local groups and leaders, CBOs, local and international NGOs, and government ministries.
• Attend interagency meetings to improve service delivery to our client groups and access opportunities to forward CVT’s work.
• Ensure that the reporting and documentation of these processes is completed and minutes of meetings are filed.

Train role players and community members in basic trauma and mental health issues.

• Assist in designing, planning, implementing and facilitating external training programs for local decision makers, community members and CBOs, local and international NGO’s, and government/ministry staff on trauma and mental health issues in order to develop a more supportive environment for people whose psycho-social functioning has been affected by experiences of torture and war trauma.
• Contribute to completing the documentation and reporting of external training.

Promote Self-care through Support and Supervision

• Attend regular support, debriefing, case conferences, and/or supervision meetings to ensure information and skill-sharing.
• Attend trainings provided by CVT and other agencies as directed by Clinician.
• Implement Clinician recommendations and training in day to day clinical work.
• Provide feedback to Clinician on training and supervision.
• Request support from Clinician or Peer Supervisor as needed.
• Submit files to the PSC Peer Supervisor/Clinician for regular review and support.
• Set objectives for each week and month which contribute to achieving the objectives of the site. Plan the activities required to achieve these objectives.
• Submit weekly and monthly statistics form and reports.
• Set and follow through on a personal self-care schedule to avoid burnout and vicarious traumatization.