Advisor, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support; MHPSS – U.S. Emergencies; P3

Save the Children has been fighting for children’s rights for over a century, ensuring a healthy start, access to education, and a safe environment for all children. We operate in over 100 countries, including the U.S., and create lasting change in even the most challenging settings.

As the Advisor for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS), you will report to the Senior Advisor, MHPSS and serve as a core technical advisor for Save the Children’s mental health psychosocial programming in U.S. emergency contexts. You will provide program design leadership, technical guidance, and capacity building for child‑focused psychosocial interventions during preparedness, response, and recovery. All MHPSS programming must be evidence‑based, responsive to community needs, coordinated with Save the Children’s response and recovery outcomes, and aligned with organizational values of Accountability, Ambition, Collaboration, Creativity, and Integrity.

NOTE – this role is contingent on funding that is anticipated to last up to twelve months.

Hybrid – Washington DC, Fairfield, CT or Lexington, KY office locations

• Design and Refine Program Models (20%)
• Lead the development and revision of core MHPSS program models, ensuring alignment with latest research, best practices, and community needs.
• Adapt domestic and international Save the Children program content to fit the needs of multiple age groups and cultures by integrating the latest evidence and trauma‑informed practices.
• Lead revisions of “Helping Children Cope with Disasters” and “Psychological First Aid for Children and Caregivers” for post‑disaster community interventions.
• Serve as the technical lead in Save the Children’s coalition for Safe Spaces for Children.
• Ensure all programs are culturally and contextually appropriate, evidence‑based, and tailored to community insights.
• Develop and maintain program guidance, tools, and resources that strengthen program quality and consistency.
• Capacity Building (15%)
• Deliver MHPSS training content for implementation partners, state teams, and surge staff, grounded in the latest research and evidence‑based practices.
• Provide ongoing mentoring, technical support, and practical guidance to strengthen staff and partner confidence in implementing psychosocial interventions.
• Respond to Domestic Emergencies (10%)
• Deploy within 72 hours’ notice to disaster‑affected areas for up to three weeks to participate in rapid needs assessments and provide technical guidance on MHPSS priorities.
• Lead the MHPSS desk assessment to identify community partners impacted by disaster.
• Support partner and staff training on MHPSS program implementation and safeguarding during response operations.
• Collaborate with the operations team to identify partners for Gifts in Kind and other items for distribution to identified partners.
• Program Implementation Support (30%)
• Support response and recovery teams in developing realistic and achievable MHPSS implementation plans.
• Support the implementation of current grants, including a research grant from the National Institute of Health that is active through May 2026.
• Lead technical assistance and support to existing and future community partners implementing MHPSS programming for adults and children.
• Lead trainings with community partners.
• Identify partners for training‑of‑trainers to continue local implementation.
• Support and monitor local implementation plans.
• Ensure proper data collection for all trainings and programs.
• Analyze programmatic data and report back to partners.
• Grant Management and Reporting (25%)
• Lead the subgrating process for community partners, utilizing a Salesforce platform.
• Monitor and support partner subgrant spend, ensuring timely use of funds and adherence to program reach goals.
• Lead development of final donor program reports.
• Collect and compile impact stories and qualitative data from implementing partners.
• Partner with MERL to analyze overall program reach and outcome data.
• Ensure all deliverables, outputs, and learning are captured and reflected in final reporting and donor communications.
• Contribute technical content to new funding…