Consultant: Development of SOPs and Training Materials for Acute and Severe Mental Health Presentations

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is an international, independent medical humanitarian organisation providing emergency aid to people affected by conflict, epidemics, natural disasters, and exclusion from healthcare.

The Manson Unit is a multi-disciplinary medical team within MSF UK that works to improve the quality of MSF medical programmes worldwide, helping ensure patients receive the best possible care. Mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) is part of most MSF operations, and demand for these services has increased steadily across humanitarian settings in recent years.

A key objective of MSF’s new MHPSS strategy is to strengthen the capacity of country teams to provide safe, dignified, and appropriate care for people presenting with acute and severe mental health conditions across all points of care.

MSF already has useful guidance, protocols, country-level tools, and training materials on initial assessment and management. However, these resources need to be consolidated, structured, and operationalised into a practical set of standard operating procedures (SOPs), with complementary case-based training materials for medical and mental health staff.

The consultant will draw on:

• existing MSF guidance and country-level tools provided by the Mental Health Advisor;
• practical experience from MSF psychiatrists and mental health advisors; and
• external evidence-based guidance only where important gaps remain.

Any external guidance used must be clearly referenced, validated, and adapted to MSF operational settings.

2. Objective

To develop a practical SOP package and complementary case-based training materials for the management of acute and severe mental health presentations in MSF settings.

Specifically, the consultant will:

• compile and synthesise existing MSF guidance and field practices;
• identify and fill critical gaps using MSF operational experience and, where necessary, external evidence-based guidance;
• translate this material into structured, user-friendly SOPs covering the full patient care pathway; and
• develop case-based scenarios that complement the TEMBO self-paced course Psychiatric Care through the mhGAP Approach without duplicating it.

3. Scope of Work

The consultant will develop one harmonised SOP package covering the management of acute and severe mental health presentations across the care pathway, including:

• emergency presentation and initial assessment;
• admission decision-making;
• inpatient care;
• discharge and follow-up; and
• alternatives when admission is not feasible.

The SOPs should address, at minimum, the following presentations:

• agitation and acute psychosis;
• dissociation;
• cultural presentations of distress;
• suicide risk and immediate management;
• catatonia; and
• other relevant mental health emergencies.

SOP package

The SOPs should use a consistent, practical format and include:

• purpose, scope, target users, and limits of the intervention;
• roles and responsibilities of relevant staff;
• step-by-step procedures for assessment, immediate safety, treatment/stabilisation, monitoring, referral, and follow-up;
• admission, discharge, exclusion, and referral criteria, including risk assessment and escalation pathways;
• medication guidance and monitoring, aligned with current MSF guidance and staff scope of practice;
• documentation and handover requirements, avoiding unnecessary patient-identifying information;
• referral pathways and alternative care options where specialist care or admission is unavailable;
• operational requirements for implementation, including supervision, multidisciplinary coordination, staff support, and training needs;
• brief patient communication points, including warning signs and when to seek urgent help;
• discharge planning considerations to reduce risk of future incidents; and
• clearly marked areas requiring local adaptation, such as staffing, referral contacts, medicines, and available services.

Supporting tools such as flowcharts, checklists, handover forms, referral templates, and quick-reference job aids should be included where useful.

Case-based training materials

The consultant will also develop 10–12 case-based clinical scenarios to strengthen staff competencies. These should:

• reflect realistic MSF-relevant patient presentations;
• cover assessment, differential diagnosis, immediate safety, management, and referral;
• include model answers, key learning points, and short facilitator notes;
• be suitable for use in TEMBO or facilitator-led training; and
• complement, rather than repeat, the TEMBO course content.

Where feasible, at least two scenarios should be included for each main presentation area.

4. Deliverables

The consultant will deliver:

1. A harmonised SOP package for acute and severe mental health presentations across the care pathway.
2. Supporting implementation tools, such as flowcharts, checklists, handover/referral forms, local adaptation fields, and quick-reference job aids.
3. An organised resource repository of reviewed materials approved for inclusion.
4. A case-based training pack containing 10–12 scenarios with questions, model answers, and key learning points.
5. A staff competency matrix showing minimum competencies by cadre and point of care.
6. Editable final files and clean PDF versions, with complete references.

Deliverables will be considered acceptable when they:

• meet the agreed scope and format;
• are technically accurate, clearly referenced, and practical for intended users;
• distinguish minimum safety standards from locally adaptable elements;
• define roles, decisions, and actions across the patient pathway; and
• address consolidated reviewer feedback and any user-testing feedback undertaken.

5. Consultant Profile

Applicants should meet the following requirements:

• Medical qualification with specialist training in psychiatry and current or recent clinical experience.
• Demonstrated experience developing SOPs, operational tools, implementation guides, or field manuals. Applicants are required to provide at least one relevant writing sample.
• Previous MSF experience as a psychiatrist strongly preferred.
• Familiarity with MSF MHPSS frameworks, MSF pharmacological protocols for mental health disorders, and the TEMBO course Psychiatric Care through the mhGAP Approach highly desirable.
• Experience working in low-resource and/or humanitarian settings.
• Strong ability to synthesise and adapt technical content for practical use in field programmes.
• Ability to work independently and deliver high-quality outputs within tight timelines.
• Excellent written English.

6. Duration and Timing

The consultancy is expected to last 35 working days.

The consultancy is expected to take place between November 2026 and February 2027. The exact start date will be agreed before contracting.

All final deliverables must be submitted by 28th February 2027.

How to apply

7. How to Apply

Please send:

• your CV;
• a cover letter explaining how you meet the role requirements and your proposed approach to the consultancy; and
• one relevant writing sample, preferably a clinical SOP.

to [email protected] by Monday 26th October 2026.