Consultant/ Play Therapy

Background:

As of 2007, Gaza strip has been subjected to five massive wars and military operations resulting in thousands of deaths, high number of wounded and massive forced displacement. Strict closure of Gaza strip, restriction of mobility of people and goods from and into Gaza resulted in major deterioration of living conditions, high unemployment and poverty.

Health system in Gaza has been severely affected by the military operations and closure. Shortage in medical supplies, equipment and physical infrastructure has been the result of constrained access to goods and materials. Restricted movement of people resulted in deprivation of access to care, especially for those in need for treatment outside the strip and limited the opportunities of health workers receive highly needed training and qualification upgrade to cope with increased demand on services.

Mental health in Gaza strip has been a critically hit area. Direct and indirect exposure to traumatizing events has been massive and has affected almost all the 2 million inhabitants of Gaza strip. Five massive wars launched over Gaza caused a condition of repeated exposure and hence deepened the negative effect of war on the mental health of population.

Combined with lack of training opportunities, increased need and demand for mental health and psychosocial care poses a clear challenge on the healthcare and psychosocial sector. The recent war on Gaza raised the need for urgent intervention to care for people in need for psychosocial and mental health interventions, and also the need for upgrading the capacity of mental health, psychosocial human resources.

It also raised the need for effective preventive and resilience building interventions to help people deal with stress and enable families early and effectively care for their children in need.

MOH has provided a review of Capacity building and training needs in the area of mental health and psychosocial support. Based on this review, five training areas were defined and will form the subject of large capacity building effort for the objective to create a significant capacity prevent, detect and treat mental health and psychosocial challenges.

Within the scope of the ECD project, the focus will be on children needs and the needs for caregivers whether within the family, community, school or healthcare institutions.

The Palestinian Ministry of health with funding from the World Bank seeks the services of a qualified individual expert to undertake the implementation of a play therapy training to health and education practitioners who are expected to provide quality psychosocial support and therapy for children in need in Gaza.

Description:

This 36-hour training course is designed to provide basic knowledge and skills in the concept, benefits and techniques of the play therapy. The training aims to build capacities of the first group of practitioners to be able to implement the play therapy. The trainees are expected to cascade their knowledge and skills in ECD settings (incl. healthcare facilities and schools) to other providers.

Respecting the diversity of healthcare providing institutions in Gaza, it is envisaged that trainees will come from all healthcare providing institutions, namely Ministry of Health, UNRWA and civil society providers. Selection of participants in the training will be provided through consultative process among different providers of mental health and psychosocial support providers in coordination with the MOH responsible focal person.  

Target group:

A selected group of 30 practitioners working with children aged 3-12 years will be invited to participate in this first of its kind training course on play therapy. This course will specifically target the following groups:

• Early childhood practitioners (nursery and kindergarten caregivers) and school counselors
• School health officials at MOH, MOE and MOSD who could serve as future trainers
• Selected PHC and school health representatives from UNRWA from facilities equipped with play corners
• Selected number of participants from private ECD institutions

Suggested Intended learning objectives:

By the end of this training course, participants will be able to:

• Understand the concept of play therapy, benefits for children and techniques of play therapy within the ECD settings.
• Recognize situations, conditions and individuals, where play therapy might be useful
• Recognize the applicability of play therapy within the context of Gaza and define situations, where play therapy is applicable for individual and group interventions
• Use the techniques used in play therapy and effectively run play therapy sessions

Deliverables:

A selected training expert will be expected to provide the below deliverables:

• A detailed training program description including intended learning objectives (ILOs) building on suggested below, training session schedule and evaluation tools
• A training plan that includes training materials and tools with a plan for the practical training component
• A final training report, including:
  1. A summary of key areas of strengths and weaknesses identified in both the training content and delivery method, based on participants’ feedback. The administration and reporting of results of pre- and post-surveys would be a plus.
  2. A final, organized compilation of all training materials used, with any suggested improvements to the content based on participants’ feedback
  3. A proposed scale-up plan for the training, including considerations for continuously updating the skills of participants in a cost-effective and sustainable manner

جميع الحقوق محفوظة لموقع جوبس.

Required Qualifications:

• At least Master’s degree in psychology, clinical psychology or related field from recognized institution
• Certification in the area of play therapy from recognized institution
• Proven qualifications and at least 5 years of experience in counseling and play therapy within Gaza
• Proven experience in training in the field of child psychosocial and mental health programs
• Proven experience in using play therapy in a conflict setting

Experts that meet the requirements should submit an expression of interest to include the following: 

1. A cover letter including the suitability of the candidate (individual) to the required task.
2. A curriculum vitae of expert to be working on the assignment.
3. A technical offer in response to the call for Expert TOR, showing the Expert/s understanding of the assignment and how this can be taken forward. 

The expression of interest package must be submitted to Ministry of Health via email: [email protected], by indicating this title in the e mail subject [Play Therapy] no later than 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday 31 August 2022.