Organizational Setting

The FAO Health Services (CSLH) provides preventive medical, counseling and occupational health services to FAO employees and their dependents and advises on all health-related matters to the Organization. Within the Health Services, the counseling unit provides services to promote the psychological health and well-being of employees and contributes to a healthy work environment, at headquarters and in field offices worldwide.

The position is located in the Health Services within the Logistics Services Division at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Reporting Lines
The Staff Counsellor reports to the Chief, Health Services.

Technical Focus
Overall planning and implementation of the FAO Mental Health Strategy with particular focus on psychological preparation for hardship assignments to minimize ill health effects on the persons and its negative impact on the operations of the Organization.

Key Results
Full implementation of the FAO Mental Health Strategy to achieve full coverage of FAO employees and dependents with the needed mental health and wellbeing services.

Key Functions
• Reviews and updates the FAO Mental Health Strategy.
• Coordinates the design, development, delivery and evaluation of staff counselling services.
• Leads a team of counsellors and coordinates all aspects of delivery of psychosocial support to headquarters and Decentralized Offices.
• Supports and advises regional counsellors in complex cases or critical incidents as needed.
• Oversees the counselling unit activities managing the performance of counsellors under his/her supervision.
• Provides culturally sensitive psychological support to all FAO employees (to individuals and/or group sessions) either in person or via teleconference and referrals to outside mental health care services as appropriate.
• Develops a proactive and reactive support programme for FAO Level 3 emergency countries and crisis areas and provides active psychosocial support during emergencies and/or after critical incidents to ensure continued staff well-being.
• Delivers workshops, trainings and information sessions on a wide range of topics (e.g. stress management, team building, problem-solving, conflict resolution, etc.) to employees from a wide range of cultural backgrounds, to ensure that staff regularly receive relevant information and are aware of sources where to find information or assistance.
• Designs, reviews and implements a Peer Support programme for Decentralized Offices; contributes to the design of corporate policies and guidelines; designs information booklets/materials to increase awareness of important themes and promote staff welfare.
• Advises managers, the Human Resources Division (CSH), the Security Services (CSOS) and other institutional partners on assisting employees with stress health issues that may affect work functioning and performance, giving guidance and support to employees and the Organization during organizational changes and critical incidents.
• Based on identification of risks in the workplace, provides preventative, educational and information programmes and group presentations on topics including – but not limited to – psychosocial health problems, workplace wellbeing, crisis preparedness and response, and other health promotion topics.
• Within the UN framework of the duty of care in high-risk environment, contributes 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.
• Prepares comprehensive reports, plans missions within the allowed budget of CSLH and organizes trainings and other staff counselling activities to ensure the provision of cohesive counselling services.
• Develops and maintains partnerships with other UN agencies to provide cost effective coordinated support.
• Maintains up-to-date, accurate records of client contacts in the Health Services’ system (Cority).
• Participates in inter-agency activities, working groups or conferences of the UN counselling network, as necessary.
• Oversees the design and implementation of the concept of Staff Wellbeing Committees in FAO Decentralized Offices in cooperation with FAO Country Teams.

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements
• Advanced university degree in psychology, psychiatry or counselling or equivalent with a license/registration to practice in 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 languages (preferably French or Spanish) is considered a strong asset.
• Demonstrated ability to write clear and concise reports and documents in English.