Mental health specialist

Fieldset

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.

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

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 / 1 minute read

Christian Falkenstein

Mental health specialist

TB in Belarus: “The blank spot on the map”

Knowing nothing about Belarus, German psychotherapist Christian arrives in Minsk for his first ever assignment with Médecins Sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF)

28 Feb 2019 / 4 minute read

Kayla Dawson

Mental health specialist

A Deeper Look into Deciding to Start My Mission

The time has come – I’m days away from leaving for my first MSF mission. I’ve decided that I wanted to write a blog while I’m on mission because I’ve read so many MSF blog posts over the last year. I’ve found them to be inspiring and helpful in deciding/preparing to work for MSF.

26 Jan 2019 / 4 minute read

Kateřina Šrahůlková

Mental health specialist

"Imagine a safe place": Working as a psychologist with refugee children

In Jordan Médecins sans Frontières / Doctors Without Borders (MSF) are working with families who are trying to rebuild their lives

01 Nov 2018 / 7 minute read

Luciano Canchelara

Mental health specialist

Caring for survivors of sexual violence in the Central African Republic

Luciano Canchelara is a psychologist who has been working at MSF’s sexual violence clinic in Bangui for the past three months.

25 Sep 2018 / 4 minute read

Raimund Alber

Mental health specialist

The night I met Thomas: Mental health support in South Sudan

"A small incident can be enough. A trigger. A push over the edge. Something mundane."

22 May 2018 / 7 minute read

Marion Thimm

Mental health specialist

Mental health support for children in Syria: Poems of loss and displacement

"I still remember vividly the first time I saw seven-year-old Maida"

26 Mar 2018 / 4 minute read

Hilary Onno

Mental health specialist

A Goodbye to Minsk

Hilary reflects on three months spent working on addiction and tuberculosis in Belarus.

16 Nov 2017 / 6 minute read

Hilary Onno

Mental health specialist

Winter Is Here

With just three weeks left of her assignment in Minsk, Hilary prepares to hand over her plan for helping people struggling with both addiction and tuberculosis

30 Oct 2017 / 3 minute read