Mental Health and Wellbeing Consultant

About the Role 

Cities for Children is seeking a qualified and experienced mental health professional to support the psychosocial well-being of children and adolescents across its programmes.

The role will focus on identifying children who may need additional mental health support, conducting age-appropriate screenings, providing individual counselling where required, and strengthening the psychosocial support available through CfC's learning and community spaces.

The consultant will also work closely with programme teams to integrate mental health and well-being into existing activities, build staff capacity to recognise and respond to children's needs, and ensure that children requiring specialised care are appropriately referred to relevant services.

Scope of Work 

The Mental Health consultant will work closely with the CEO and Programmes Lead, with the following key responsibilities:

1. Mental Health Screening and Individual Counselling

• Conduct age-appropriate mental health screenings of children and adolescents, using standardised tools such as the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) or other appropriate tools.
• Identify children who may be experiencing emotional, behavioural or psychosocial difficulties and assess their support needs.

• Provide one-to-one counselling to children identified as requiring additional support, using age-appropriate and child-centred approaches.
• Develop appropriate counselling plans based on individual needs and monitor children's progress through follow-up sessions.
• Conduct pre- and post-screenings, where appropriate, to assess changes in children's mental health and symptom severity.
• Maintain comprehensive documentation with confidential and secure records of screenings, counselling sessions, progress and outcomes.

2. Mental health integration and training

• Work with programme teams to strengthen the psychosocial component of CfC's existing activities and learning spaces.
• Guide programme staff in recognising signs of emotional distress and responding to children's needs in a sensitive and supportive manner.
• Design and conduct mental health awareness sessions for teachers, support staff and other relevant stakeholders.
• Conduct pre- and post-session Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAP) assessments to measure changes in participants' awareness and understanding.

4. Referrals and Coordination with Specialist Services

• Identify children who require support beyond the services available through CfC.
• Facilitate referrals to appropriate external services, including specialised psychological, psychiatric, rehabilitation, protection and other relevant support services.
• Coordinate with relevant service providers, where appropriate, to support continuity of care and follow-up.
• Maintain confidential records of referrals and their status, while ensuring children's safety, dignity and privacy.

• Academic degree in Clinical Psychology, Counselling Psychology or a relevant mental health discipline.
• Relevant professional certification or recognised qualification to provide psychological counselling services.
• At least 3–5 years of relevant experience in mental health assessment, counselling or psychosocial support, preferably with children and adolescents.
• Experience in using standardised mental health screening and assessment tools.
• Understanding of child development, childhood trauma, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and child protection.
• Experience in designing and conducting mental health awareness sessions and capacity-building activities.
• Ability to work comfortably in the field, engaging diverse stakeholders including teachers in community settings and children from vulnerable backgrounds.

• Strong documentation, reporting and communication skills in Urdu and English.
• Agility and ability to work collaboratively with programme teams.
• Commitment to child safeguarding, confidentiality and the values of Cities for Children.