Background

Due to the nature of the country situations in which UNDP operates, UNDP personnel and their families in some duty stations are exposed to a range of factors that may result in highly demanding working conditions. This is especially the case for UNDP personnel in non-family duty stations.
Under the general guidance of the Chief of the Unit for Staff Well Being of the Office of Human Resources the Counsellor will contribute to the general mental well-being of UNDP staff through professional psychosocial support and preventive actions. Thanks to the close link to UNDP’s Security Office the incumbent will be enabled to include critical Security information in its planning of psycho-social support.

The incumbent will provide services to UNDP according to the following guidelines: WHO's guidelines such as ICD-10, WHO’s mental health Gap Action Programme, the  IASC Guidelines Mental Health and Psychosocial Support in Emergency Settings, and WHO’s guide on Psychological First Aid

The counsellor will be part of the inter-agency network of staff counsellors and contribute to the UN system wide strategy and policy recommendations on mental health and psychosocial support in emergency settings.

The counsellor will be based in New York at Headquarters and also travel to hardship duty stations as needed.

Objectives:

• UNDP’s staff members moving to non-family duty stations will receive education on self-care and resilience.
• Individual staff and personnel members and their families will have increased access to professional psychological support, especially in the aftermath of a crisis.
• UNDP will receive a critical assessment of HR management tools dealing with workplace related stress and its consequences, recommendations on how to improve their effectiveness and efficiency by using options for communication, delivery and clarifying the specific complementary role of the various tools, including the services by the counsellor.  
• UNDP will benefit from the coordinated approach of the network of psychosocial counsellors (SCO, CISMU, Funds and Programmes and the additional forum to advocate for taking into considerations of the needs of a field based UN organisation .
  

Duties and Responsibilities

The UNDP staff counsellor will:

Provide preventive and protective psychosocial support: 

• Offer learning to all personnel in time and stress management focussing on duty stations/units that haven’t had high ratings in the Global Staff Survey on issues related to work environment and staff well-being;
• Offer learning on self-care and resilience to prepare personnel members to live and work in difficult situations before they rotate to non-family duty stations; and
• Foster the well-being of UNDP’s personnel by providing professional and confidential counselling services to personnel members and their dependants.

Provide professional and coordinated response to emergency situations:

• Make sure that personnel and their dependants receive immediate post-crisis services in response to emergency situations if needed;
• Coordinate with UNMSD/Staff Counsellor’s Office, UNDSS/CISMU and psycho-social Counsellors of Funds and Programmes to ensure the provision of adequate psychosocial support during and after emergencies; and
• Provide professional and confidential psychosocial support to personnel and their direct families during and after emergencies as a contribution in the coordinated efforts of the UN Counsellors’ Network.

Provide advice to the People Capability Strategy and UNDP’s HR and Security policy formulation efforts:

• While respecting individual staff member’s confidentiality, develop reporting mechanisms and providing authoritative advice to HR policy makers ensuring the impact of stress in the workplace is captured in HR policy making.
• Establish and maintain a direct conversation with members of the Security Office and provide recommendations for strategic security policy and decision making.

Strengthen partnerships through networking:

• Participate in the UN System networks of staff and stress counsellors and staff well-being units with a view to contribute to and develop the professionalization of the UN Common system’s response to crisis situations;
• Advocate within the UN Common system for a regulatory framework that responds to the needs of a field based UN Organisation, such as UNDP;
• Establish and maintain a direct contact to the UN Medical Services and its Staff counsellor’s Office also in relation to medical evacuations and sick leave requests on the basis of mental health problems; and
• Develop a network of external professional counsellors, especially in duty stations in considerable hardship, to maintain the long term psychosocial support and respond to different requirements regarding language and cultural background.

The counsellor will report to the Chief of the Unit for Staff Well Being and participate in relevant meetings of the Security Office, exchange information on a regular basis and ensure the best use of security and psycho-social information for the well being of UNDP’s workforce.

The incumbent will submit an annual report about the activities (without breaching the confidentiality of individual cases).

Competencies

Core Competencies:

• Demonstrates integrity by modelling the UN’s values and ethical standards
• Demonstrates commitment to UNDP’s mission, vision and values
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability
• Treats people fairly without favouritism

Functional Competencies:

Technical Expertise: In-depth knowledge of psycho-social support in international context

• Expertise in preventive and responsive approaches of mental health and psychosocial support  and experience in crisis response;
• Trained and experienced in cognitive or behavioural therapy
• Keeps abreast of new developments in area of professional discipline and job knowledge and seeks to develop him/herself professionally
• Discretion and high regard for confidentiality;
• An empathic non-judgmental approach

Client Orientation:

• Anticipates client needs 
• Works towards creating an enabling environment for a smooth relationship between the clients and service provider
• Focuses on result for the client and responds positively to feedback

Strengthen Partnerships:

• Works collaboratively with colleagues inside UN/UNDP as well as its partners and other stakeholders to pursue common goals

Self-management

• Stays calm and maintains composure under stress or during a crisis keeping disruptive emotions under control
• Awareness pertaining to common counselling caveats (e.g. overzealous client advocacy, burnout, etc.);
• Awareness of the need for self-care and personal counselling;
• Prudence in adhering to professional boundaries;

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Advanced University degree in mental health, psychiatry, counselling, clinical psychology or related mental health profession. Expertise in mental health and psychosocial support after crises, as well as a broad range of related fields, such as alcohol/substance abuse, family counselling, training, stress management are an asset

Experience:

• Minimum of seven years of professional experience in staff mental health and psychosocial support, especially experience in post crises care and treatment, mental health, cross cultural communications, counselling, training and related areas, preferably gained within the UN system or international development in general

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in written and spoken English and French.  Knowledge of additional UN language highly desirable