Position Purpose
The Psychosocial Support (PSS) Officer designs, coordinates, and delivers structured psychosocial support activities for war injured children, adolescents, and their caregivers within GASCF's humanitarian health project. The role focuses on community level and group-based interventions that promote emotional recovery, resilience, social connection, and wellbeing, complementing the clinical services provided by the psychology team. The PSS Officer works within GASCF's integrated holistic care model, ensuring that psychosocial activities are evidence informed, culturally appropriate, child-safe, and aligned with the emotional and developmental needs of beneficiaries throughout their recovery journey.
Key Duties, Tasks and Responsibilities
- Plan, prepare, and facilitate regular structured PSS group sessions for war injured children across different age groups, incorporating creative, expressive, play based, and resilience building activities appropriate to developmental stage and trauma background.
- Design and deliver caregiver support group sessions addressing parenting under stress, trauma responses in children, selfcare, and community coping strategies.
- Coordinate and facilitate structured wellbeing activities including recreational outings, cultural celebrations, shared meals, creative workshops, and day trips as part of GASCF's holistic wellbeing program.
- Adapt PSS activities responsively to emerging beneficiary needs, session observations, and feedback from the psychology team and social workers.
- Support the facilitation of family intervention sessions in collaboration with psychologists and social workers, focusing on communication, trauma informed parenting, and family cohesion.
- Conduct structured PSS needs assessments for newly registered beneficiaries, identifying psychosocial risks, support needs, and protective factors, and sharing findings with the Lead Psychologist and social work team.
- Observe beneficiary participation in group activities and report signs of acute distress, social withdrawal, risk behavior, or clinical mental health needs to the Lead Psychologist for clinical assessment.
- Support the identification and timely referral of beneficiaries requiring individual psychological therapy, psychiatric support, or specialized protection services.
- Maintain accurate attendance registers, session activity records, and beneficiary participation notes for all PSS activities, ensuring records are complete and filed in compliance with GASCF's data protection standards.
- Contribute PSS activity data and narrative inputs to monthly and quarterly program reports and donor submissions.
- Participate actively in multidisciplinary team meetings, contributing PSS observations and insights to inform the holistic care planning process for individual cases.
- Coordinate closely with the PSS Coordinator, social workers, field workers, and education staff to ensure PSS activities complement and integrate with other program services.
- Support the training and orientation of volunteers engaged in PSS and wellbeing activities, ensuring activities are delivered safely, consistently, and in accordance with GASCF's child protection and quality standards.
- Participate in team reflective practice sessions, supervision meetings, and capacity building activities facilitated by the Lead Psychologist.
Required Qualifications and Experience
- Education: Bachelor's degree in Psychology, Social Work, Education, or a related field. A certificate or training in Psychological First Aid (PFA) and group PSS facilitation is required.
- Experience: Minimum two (2) years of experience designing and facilitating PSS programs or group activities for children and caregivers in humanitarian, health, or protection contexts. Experience working with war-affected populations in Lebanon is strongly valued.
- Technical Skills: Demonstrated ability to facilitate structured group sessions with children of varying ages. Knowledge of child development, trauma responses, and resilience-based approaches is essential.
- Languages: Native fluency in Arabic; working knowledge of English.
- Core Competencies: Creativity, empathy, group facilitation, child-safe programming, attention to session quality, trauma-informed communication, teamwork, and professional ethics.
Prevention Against Sexual Exploitation and Abuse
GASCF has a strict policy of “zero tolerance” for sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). THE EMPLOYEE affirms that it has received, read, and understood this policy and has undergone relevant training to ensure compliance. THE EMPLOYEE and its employees, staff, and/or subcontractors shall not be involved in any act of sexual exploitation or abuse.
For the purposes hereof, sexual exploitation means any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes, including, but not limited to, profiting monetarily, socially, or politically from the sexual exploitation of another; and sexual abuse means the actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force or under unequal or coercive conditions. THE EMPLOYEE shall take all necessary measures to prevent sexual exploitation or abuse by any of its employees or other individuals engaged and under its control and shall take immediate corrective action in the event that any such situation occurs.
Preventive and responsive measures shall include, but are not limited to:
- a clear prohibition against any involvement in acts of sexual exploitation or abuse;
- mandatory background checks for all personnel prior to recruitment;
- PSEA (Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse) training for all personnel;
- mandatory reporting of all allegations of SEA;
- referral of all survivors of SEA to immediate and professional assistance;
- thorough investigation of all reported allegations of SEA and implementation of appropriate corrective actions. Any breach of this provision by THE EMPLOYEE shall entitle GASCF to terminate the contract with immediate effect.
