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Mental health specialist

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Mental health specialist

Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) mental health specialists work to provide psychological or psychiatric care to communities impacted by conflict, disasters, or disease. 

Resilient, compassionate, and focused, their work is essential to helping people rebuild their lives. This can be through counselling, psycho-social support, or, in some projects, medication.  

Our counsellors are often members of the local community, specially trained by MSF. They receive clinical supervision and support from highly qualified mental health specialists such as psychologists and psychiatrists.  

Read the blog posts below to find out more about life as an MSF mental health specialist, or click here to find out more about applying to join the team. 

Margaret Ngunang
Margaret Ngunang
Mental health specialist
Movie Night: Mental Health in South Sudan
A long stay in hospital is stressful for anyone, but especially for children. Mental health specialist Margaret shares a creative approach from a UN camp in South Sudan...
10 Nov 2019 / 3 minute read
Christian Falkenstein MSF
Christian Falkenstein
Mental health specialist
I still have a suitcase in Minsk...
... it will stay there too, which has a meaning of its own. This is how the journey lasts. And if I long to, then I’ll go back… (With apologies to Marlene Dietrich)
23 Oct 2019 / 4 minute read
Margaret Ngunang
Margaret Ngunang
Mental health specialist
The beauty of movement: Helping young minds in South Sudan
Hospital is a tough environment for any child, let alone those whose families have lost almost everything. Mental health specialist Margaret explains why, despite conflict, displacement and illness, it’s vital to provide opportunities for kids to simply be kids…
09 Sep 2019 / 6 minute read
Nurse dispensing medication in a TB dispensary
Christian Falkenstein MSF
Christian Falkenstein
Mental health specialist
TB in Belarus: Facts and figures show us the way
Impressions can be deceiving. For Christian, a German psychotherapist working in Minsk, facts and figures show what really works.
09 Sep 2019 / 5 minute read
Belarus
Addiction
Data collection
Multidrug- Resistant Tuberculosis
MSF counsellor with a patient
Christian Falkenstein MSF
Christian Falkenstein
Mental health specialist
TB in Belarus: Two steps forward, one step back
At an MSF tuberculosis project in Belarus, German psychotherapist Christian learns how to be patient with progress...
26 Jul 2019 / 3 minute read
UK mental health specialist Alison Fogg with the team in Bangladesh
Alison Fogg - MSF
Alison Fogg
Mental health specialist
“The love for your child is good”: Mental health and the Rohingya crisis
How do you care for people's mental health when the situation around them is so unstable? British mental health officer Alison Fogg shares her experience of treating Rohingya people inside the world's largest refugee camp.
25 Jul 2019 / 6 minute read
Christian Falkenstein MSF
Christian Falkenstein
Mental health specialist
Half-time in Minsk
As he passes the half-way point of his time working at an MSF tuberculosis project, psychotherapist Christian reflects on six months in Belarus…
04 Jun 2019 / 4 minute read
An MSF team member examines a patient with multidrug-resistant TB in Minsk
Christian Falkenstein MSF
Christian Falkenstein
Mental health specialist
TB in Belarus: "Discuss, argue and take patients seriously"
Overcoming tuberculosis (TB) requires a lengthy and careful treatment. However, in Belarus, many patients are also battling another issue: alcohol addiction. German psychotherapist Christian Falkenstein writes about putting patients at the centre of their own care… 
16 May 2019 / 3 minute read
Kayla Dawson
Mental health specialist
"What I observed was a great deal of compassion and willingness to support each other."
Sometimes, it's not just our patients that can need mental health support. Kayla blogs from India, where psychological first aid is helping healthcare staff cope with a traumatic event.
08 May 2019 / 5 minute read
Christian Falkenstein MSF
Christian Falkenstein
Mental health specialist
TB in Belarus: Saturdays at the tuberculosis clinic
In Belarus, patients fighting tuberculosis often face another battle: alcohol addiction. The combination can be devastating, as tuberculosis can be deadly without a difficult treatment made only tougher by this additional challenge. Christian, a psychotherapist, is working to help people break this dangerous cycle through new insight and new hope…
22 Apr 2019 / 4 minute read
Kayla Dawson
Mental health specialist
"A better approach is to observe and learn in the beginning"
The first few weeks in India were a whirlwind. I was happy to connect with a fellow Canadian field worker during my first few days in Delhi, then I flew to Imphal, the capital of Manipur, and headed to Churachandpur - my new home for the next nine months!
17 Apr 2019 / 5 minute read
Christian Falkenstein MSF
Christian Falkenstein
Mental health specialist
TB in Belarus: The team and the challenge
"The first three months are the most exhausting", someone warned Christian - a German psychotherapist newly arrived in Minsk. How right they were.
08 Mar 2019 / 4 minute read
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