Background:
Midwives working in Family Health Houses (FHHs) play a critical role in providing essential maternal, newborn and related health services to women and girls in Afghanistan. Their work can involve prolonged exposure to demanding working conditions, high workloads, emotional stress, challenging cases and other pressures that may affect their psychosocial well-being. Recognizing the importance of staff welfare and the well-being of frontline health workers, it is critical to engage a qualified and experienced MHPSS Senior Counsellor to provide accessible, confidential and professional psychosocial support to midwives working in selected FHHs. The intervention will focus on the identified FHHs in Helmand and Kandahar.
Key Responsibilities:
The MHPSS Senior Counsellor will be responsible for the following:
1. Psychosocial Counselling and Support
● Conduct in-person psychosocial counselling and supportive sessions with midwives working in the targeted FHHs.
● Provide individual counselling, psychological first aid and psychosocial support based on identified needs.
● Establish a safe, confidential, respectful and non-judgmental environment for midwives to discuss work-related stress, emotional difficulties, interpersonal concerns and other psychosocial issues.
● Apply appropriate evidence-informed counselling and psychosocial support approaches within the counsellor's professional scope of practice.
● Support midwives to develop healthy coping strategies, strengthen resilience and maintain their psychosocial well-being.
2. Assessment and Follow-up
● Conduct an initial assessment of the psychosocial well-being and support needs of individual midwives.
● Develop, jointly with each midwife, an appropriate follow-up and communication plan based on identified needs.
● Provide follow-up counselling and psychosocial support through telephone or in-person, as appropriate.
● Maintain regular and appropriate contact with midwives requiring continued psychosocial support.
● Monitor progress and adjust the frequency and type of support according to individual needs.
3. Referral and Case Management
● Identify individuals who may require specialized mental health, or other professional services beyond the scope of the counselling provided.
● Facilitate appropriate and confidential referrals to available specialized services in accordance with established referral pathways.
● Follow up on referrals, where appropriate and with the individual's consent, while respecting confidentiality and professional boundaries.
● Document referrals and follow-up actions in a confidential and anonymized manner, as required.
● Follow up the action plans and work to solve it accordingly.
4. Staff Welfare and Capacity Support
● Contribute to the overall staff welfare approach for midwives working in targeted facilities.
● Identify common psychosocial stressors and emerging staff welfare concerns affecting midwives.
● Where appropriate, provide brief group-based psychosocial support, stress-management or well-being sessions for midwives.
● Provide practical recommendations on measures that may contribute to improved staff well-being and retention.
● Support the development of simple, context-appropriate staff welfare and self-care tools or guidance materials for midwives, where feasible.
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5. Coordination and Reporting
● Coordinate closely with the supervisor and designated focal point of the implementing partner.
● Maintain appropriate documentation of counselling and psychosocial support activities while ensuring strict confidentiality.
● Provide regular anonymized reports on counselling activities, psychosocial needs, key challenges, referrals, and recommendations to strengthen staff welfare and support.
● Immediately communicate any significant operational or service-delivery concerns through the appropriate reporting channels, while maintaining client confidentiality.
● Participate in relevant coordination, review and planning meetings as requested.
● Ensure that all MHPSS activities are implemented in line with relevant national and international ethical guidelines, including do-no-harm, informed consent and confidentiality principles.
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Approach and Modality:
The assignment will follow a blended model of MHPSS support, combining face-to-face and remote counselling. The MHPSS Senior Counsellor will initially visit the targeted FHHs and MLMCCs to establish contact with midwives, conduct an initial psychosocial assessment and provide counselling/support. Following the initial visit, the counsellor will develop an individualized follow-up plan with each midwife. Subsequent support may be provided through telephone-based counselling and psychosocial check-ins, particularly for midwives working in remote locations. The frequency of follow-up will be determined according to the individual midwife's needs and the agreed communication plan. The MHPSS counsellor is expected to ensure that the modality of support is accessible, confidential, culturally appropriate and consistent with professional ethical standards.
Reporting and Supervision:
The MHPSS Senior Counsellor will work under the overall supervision of the designated IP Project Manager.
