Psychologist
Hello, my name is Maria and I’m a psychotherapist with Médecins du Monde since august 2019.
I have studied psychology and have a license to practice. I have worked in a NGO specialized in child protection before joining MdM team.
I am part of a team composed by social workers, psychotherapists, mental health nurses, psychiatrist, center supervisor and a receptionist. The center provides mental health and psychosocial support to persons of all the nationalities on the Lebanese territories who are in need and especially the ones from vulnerable communities.
My daily activities in a «normal day»
Usually, my day starts with the sessions for persons facing psychological challenges due to daily stressors they are going through, or current events in their life, or also persons who are facing challenges due to displacement from one place to another, or due to any other factors…
We provide the session in a safe place where the individual can talk about anything that comes to their mind and we can help them understand themselves, understand what they are going through and how to deal with the challenges.
I’m not alone. I am part of a multidisciplinary team. The service user is being followed up by more than one professional: the social worker who covers the social aspects/problematics, the mental health nurse and psychiatrist who cover the medical aspects, and we coordinate with each other to set the most suitable action plan for each service user.
Among other services we provide, we provide support groups sessions for women and men. During these sessions, they share together he stressors they are going through, they share how they deal with these stressors and we help them with techniques they can use to deal with their stress and emotions. What helps in the group support is that they don’t feel alone and that they support each other.
The team also provides training to the social worker and the nurse in the Primary Health Care Centers in order to integrate mental health and psychosocial support within the health services in the primary health care center.
The most interesting part of my job…
What is the best thing that happens in my work? it is when the service user finishes the treatment and we are observing how was their life before and how it became now and we are participating in that change and the service user is thankful at the end of this follow-up.