Lavori attuali relativi a Staff Counsellor - Roma, Lazio - FAO

Job Summary

The Staff Counsellor - Mental Health Specialist will be responsible for the overall planning and implementation of the FAO Mental Health Strategy, with a focus on psychological preparation for hardship assignments to minimize ill health effects on individuals and the organization.

Key Responsibilities

• Develop and implement policies and procedures for mental health and wellbeing services for FAO employees and dependents.
• Coordinate the design, development, delivery, and evaluation of staff counselling services, including workshops, trainings, and information sessions.
• Lead a team of counsellors and coordinate all aspects of delivery of psychosocial support to headquarters and decentralized offices.
• Support and advise regional counsellors in complex cases or critical incidents as needed.
• Oversee the counselling unit activities, managing the performance of counsellors under supervision.
• Provide culturally sensitive psychological support to all FAO employees, either in person or via teleconference, and referrals to outside mental health care services as appropriate.
• Develop a proactive and reactive support programme for FAO Level 3 emergency countries and crisis areas, and provide active psychosocial support during emergencies and/or after critical incidents to ensure continued staff well-being.
• Deliver workshops, trainings, and information sessions on a wide range of topics, including stress management, team building, problem-solving, conflict resolution, and other health promotion topics.
• Design, review, and implement a Peer Support programme for decentralized offices, and contribute to the design of corporate policies and guidelines.
• Advise managers, the Human Resources Division, the Security Services, and other institutional partners on assisting employees with stress health issues that may affect work functioning and performance.
• Based on identification of risks in the workplace, provide preventative, educational, and information programmes and group presentations on topics including psychosocial health problems, workplace wellbeing, crisis preparedness and response, and other health promotion topics.
• Contribute to the development of policies and procedural guidelines to improve the psychosocial welfare of staff and managers being deployed to hardship duty stations, including pre/post-deployment briefings and resilience training.
• Prepare comprehensive reports, plans missions within the allowed budget, and organizes trainings and other staff counselling activities to ensure the provision of cohesive counselling services.
• Develop and maintain partnerships with other UN agencies to provide cost-effective coordinated support.
• Maintain up-to-date, accurate records of client contacts in the Health Services' system.
• Participate in inter-agency activities, working groups, or conferences of the UN counselling network, as necessary.
• Oversee the design and implementation of the concept of Staff Wellbeing Committees in FAO Decentralized Offices in cooperation with FAO Country Teams.

Requirements

• Advanced university degree in psychology, psychiatry, or counselling, or equivalent, with a license/registration to practice in the home country.
• Five years of relevant experience in the field of psychology and staff counselling.
• Working knowledge (proficient - level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate - level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, or Spanish).

Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions, is desirable.
• Additional training or certification in staff support and traumatic/critical incident stress, as well as a broad range of related fields, such as alcohol/substance abuse, family counselling, facilitation skills, stress management, mindfulness, conflict resolution, and mediation.
• Extent and relevance of experience in development and implementation of policies and procedures in the UN system is considered a strong asset.
• Working knowledge (proficient - level C) of another FAO official language (preferably French or Spanish) is considered a strong asset.
• Demonstrated ability to write clear and concise reports and documents in English.