Counseling Assistant

Background

Tushinde Children’s Trust was founded in the UK in March 2010 and was registered as an NGO in Kenya in March 2011.Tushinde works with vulnerable families in the informal settlements of Mathare and Kiambiu with a main focus on providing them with access to education, health care and social support.

Tushinde is a child-focused employer and committed to child protection and the protection of vulnerable adults. All candidates will be screened prior to employment and every candidate, regardless of post applied for, will be expected to understand and adhere to the principles of child protection.

Counseling Assistant JD

• Support the Lead counselor to develop and grow the counseling service in line with needs in
• developing referral criteria, appropriate assessment tools and interventions ( individual group and family.) as well as consent forms.
• Assist in developing a case management system in line with the existing system .
• Providing psychosocial support to referred cases of high and low risk and cases in need of psychosocial support or mental health interventions to the Tushinde caregivers, youths and children.
• Providing psychological first aid to referred cases of high risk or cases in need of specialized psychological support then linking them to specialized service providers for further support and interventions. These cases include :

HIV diagnosis and disclosure.

Drug and alcohol and other substances abuse.

Cases like GBV ,SGBV and other cases of abuse.

• Providing adherence counseling to Tushinde beneficiaries living with HIV .
• Providing technical support to all Tushinde forums. This includes facilitation during youth and girls forums, holidays camps, children assessments , community days and teachers meetings.
• Providing administrative support to the counseling department.
• Participation in a weekly family support group thus positive parenting support group.
• Providing monthly / quarterly reports to the Lead counselor and social work manager.
• Timely and accurate provision of detailed case notes.
• Provide administrative support to the counseling department.
• Assisting the family counselor and social work manager to develop appropriate referral pathways to external partners.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology, Social Work or other social science related field
• 2-3 years of experience in a similar position.
• Licensed or registered as a psychologist/ counselor with relevant professional bodies will be a plus.
• Proven experience or passion in providing trauma informed therapy and counselling services preferably in settings involving vulnerable populations.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to build therapeutic rapport with clients and team members
• Committed to ethical practices, confidentiality and the well being of program participants.
• Fluent in both English and Swahili
• Demonstrated resilience and ability to work and deliver in stressful environments
• Experience in community facilitation and mobilization
• Must have a passion to work with vulnerable children, youths and adults.
• Must be flexible and willing to work in challenging environments i.e. informal settlements.
• Must have a valid certificate of good conduct

Reporting line:

Directly reports to the Lead Counselor