Psychiatrists, Psychologists and Psychotherapists

Being a mental health officer (MHO) with Médecins Sans Frontières is an intense but rewarding job. From providing psychological first aid to survivors of natural disasters to counselling HIV patients, our MHOs play a vital role in our projects. Trauma is often the most painful aspect of surviving a conflict or disaster, or living with a disease, and mental healthcare is vital for recovery.

Your job
As a mental health officer, you will design, implement, and evaluate treatment programmes for patients with conflict-related problems and mental health conditions. Most of MSF’s mental health programmes aim to provide people in emergency and conflict areas with acute mental healthcare and psychosocial support.

Each programme consists of both a clinical and a social, community-based component. Mental health programmes are integrated into existing medical programmes as well as disease-specific projects targeting people with tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS or other conditions.

A substantial part of your work will involve interdisciplinary collaboration, training and supervision of staff who carry out the psychosocial support activities, eg by building up a peer group network. Data collection, analysis and reporting are an intrinsic part of the role.