PSYCHOSOCIAL COUNSELOR JOB DESCRIPTION
Position: Psychosocial Counselor (PSC)
Organization: The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) is an international non- governmental organization dedicated to providing trauma rehabilitative services to survivors of gross human rights abuses, including torture, CVT was founded in Minnesota, USA with offices in Africa and the Middle East. CVT has provided torture rehabilitation for 14 years to survivors of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda and in refugees setting in West Nile. CVT clients receive high-quality mental health rehabilitation through individual and group counseling and referrals to other service providers for unmet needs. Services are adapted for cultural relevance and sustainability. Additionally, CVT works to increase mental health service capacity by conducting trainings with partner organizations including staff mental health needs (burnout, stress, secondary trauma) and workshops to increase capacity and respond to trauma or gender-based violence. CVT is also collaborating with partners in activities to promote community cohesion, sustainable peace, justice, storytelling, and healing for survivors of war and violence.
Location: Based in Gulu with travel to field sites with frequent travels of at least
two days in a week.
Objective: To assist individuals, groups, and communities to recover from the effects of torture and war trauma, and enable them to rebuild their lives and their communities.
Reports to: Psychotherapist /Trainer and Associate Psychotherapist
Key Performance Areas & Performance Indicators:
- Counseling: Works to provide psycho-social services to individuals, groups, and communities to assist them to recover from the effects of torture and war trauma 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 clinical 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.
- Community Sensitization, Collaboration and External Training:
- Assist in planning and implementing community’s awareness, sensitization, education campaigns, understanding and engagement with the issues relating to mental health, war trauma, and torture.
- Making the CVT services known and accessible to people whose psycho-social functioning has been impaired by their experiences of torture and war trauma.
- Representative of CVT: Good knowledge of CVTs policy, program objectives and interventions to be able to introduce to others.
- Identification of potential clients, identification of potential external training participants, facilitating access to CVT services, development of 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.
- Assist in designing, planning, implementing, and facilitating external and community training programs in order to develop a more supportive environment for people whose psycho-social functioning has been affected by experiences of torture and war trauma.
- Ensure that the reporting and documentation of community activities and external trainings are completed in a timely manner.
- Reporting:
- Assist with gathering of information and writing of regular reports regarding clinical and training activities.
- Liaise with Admin and Logistics as needed to ensure:
- Planned coordination and requisition of needed counselling and office supplies in good time, and to ensure stewardship and care of materials and supplies.
- 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 Psychotherapist / Trainer and Associate Psychotherapist.
- Request support and provide feedback to Psychotherapist / Trainer and Associate Psychotherapist on training and supervision as needed.
- Submit files to Psychotherapist / Trainer and Associate Psychotherapist for regular review and support.
- Set objectives for each week and month which contributes to achieving the objectives of the site. Plan the activities required to achieve these objectives.
- Submit weekly and monthly M&E forms and reports.
- Set and follow through on a personal self-care schedule to avoid burnout and vicarious traumatization.
- Perform other duties as assigned by the Psychotherapist / Trainer and Associate Psychotherapist.
- Engage in Transitional Justice (TJ) activities as and when needed including but not limited to engagements with implementing partners.
Qualifications and Skills:
- A diploma or above in Counseling, Social Work, or related field.
- Fluency (spoken and written) in English and Luo (Northern Uganda).
- Experience (at least 3 years) working as counselor, Social worker, or in a similar position with LRA war survivors.
- Demonstrated flexibility to adapt to changing program requirements and client needs.
- Skilled at working as a member of a team.
Note: Position is open to candidates who reside in and are eligible to work in Uganda.
The starting date for this Position is 1st October 2024 and it is dependent on donor funding.
Interested applicants should submit a cover letter, CV, and 3 professional references to [email protected] including the job title in the subject line of your email. Applications will be accepted through August 12th, 2024.
