JOB TITLE: CHILD COUNSELLOR

REPORTS TO: CHILDREN’S SERVICES ADMINISTRATOR

Job Summary

The job of the child counselor is to assess the emotional, psychological, developmental and social wellbeing of children at the Breath of Heaven Children’s Village. S/he will be expected to provide biblically-centered clinical/behavioral therapeutic interventions to address the children’s specific psychosocial needs. It is the responsibility of the counselor to conduct psychosocial assessments and provide a variety of counseling interventions, perform administrative duties and facilitate other therapeutic activities as directed. The counselor will ensure that the children’s village procedures are suitably followed to ensure that the we work in accordance with governments regulations.

Specific Tasks

• Provide daily counselling therapy to all the children at the Children’s Village
•  Conduct informed and formal assessment of children’s psychological, emotional, developmental and social needs.
• Create and implement individualized treatment plan/therapeutic interventions to meet children’s personal needs.
• Use a variety of evidence-based techniques and interventions to conduct individual and group counseling sessions (play-based interventions, therapeutic art activities, cognitive behavioral therapy, bible therapy, trauma-focused interventions, coping skills, anger management skills, etc.)
• Monitor client’s progress and adjust their treatment plans as needed
•  Conduct HIV disclosure processes with children who are HIV+ and their caregivers
• Facilitate regular support groups at BOHCV to talk about issues related to HIV/AIDS, sexual abuse, grief, trauma etc.
• Conduct family-centered therapeutic activities with individual BOHCV house.
• Conduct death and/or sick family member disclosures with children and accompany them to the funerals and hospital visits.
• Participate in the training of staff across the ministry on a variety of topics related to psychosocial care including but not limited to trauma and coping, children’s development, psychosocial needs, treatment strategies etc.
• Assess, determine and make referrals when special services or care are needed for the children such as specialized psychological/psychometric testing.
• Facilitate additional therapeutic activities at BOHCV as directed.
• Clearly and respectfully communicate with children, house mothers and staff at BOHCM.
• Record Keeping and Administrative Duties
• Complete appropriate counseling documentations such as the children’s psychosocial care plans, progress reports etc. as required by BOHCV and Zambia Counselling Council.
• Perform daily related scheduling tasks to manage and maintain an independent case load of clients.
• Document and submit weekly counselling statistics to the Children’s Services Administrator in a timely manner.
• Perform record-keeping duties by maintaining children’s counseling records in a confidential and lockable cabinet
• Compile comprehensive counseling reports for children’s disciplinary hearings as may be directed.
• Comply with rules, regulations and ethical standards of the Zambia Counseling Council.
• Employee shall also be expected to undertake any other responsibilities as may be delegated by his or her supervisor.

Teamwork:

• Closely work with other ministry departments to communicate about children’s psychosocial needs, goals and treatment plans.
• Take part in multi-disciplinary team treatment conferences when needed to review and plan for the specific client’s cases.

Academic and Professional Requirements:

• Should be not less than 33 years old
• A diploma in Counselling or Psychology
• Social work Diploma/Degree will be an added advantage
• Should be a Christian actively serving in a local Church
• Should have a minimum of atleast 2 years’ experience serving in the same position
• Should be Computer literate will basic Skills in Ms Office Packages and internet