Senior National Consultant – Mental Health

       India HIV/AIDS Alliance (Alliance India)

• Provide strategic and technical leadership for the integration of mental health into Alliance India’s HIV prevention, testing, treatment, care and support programmes, with a focus on people living with HIV and other priority populations.
• Develop and strengthen practical, evidence-informed models for routine identification, screening and early recognition of common mental health concerns among clients accessing HIV services, particularly at ART Centres and community-based service platforms.
• Support integration of mental health screening and basic psychosocial assessment into ART Centre and community service workflows, including appropriate tools, algorithms, referral pathways and job aids.
• Strengthen referral and linkage mechanisms between ART Centres, community-led organisations, counsellors, mental health professionals, public health facilities and other appropriate mental health services, including referral completion and counter-referral systems.
• Provide technical guidance on psychosocial support, counselling, stigma reduction, treatment literacy and client-centred approaches that can improve ART adherence, retention in care, viral suppression and quality of life.
• Identify mental health and psychosocial barriers contributing to missed appointments, treatment interruption, poor adherence, loss to follow-up and delayed engagement with HIV services, and recommend appropriate interventions.
• Provide technical inputs to strengthen mental health support for clients with complex psychosocial needs, including those experiencing significant distress, substance-use concerns, violence, stigma, social isolation or other vulnerabilities, with appropriate referral and safeguarding mechanisms.
• Support capacity building of Alliance India programme teams, consultants, community workers, peer navigators and ART Centre personnel on mental health literacy, identification of concerns, communication and counselling approaches, psychosocial support, stigma reduction and referral.
• Develop, review and adapt training curricula, SOPs, guidance documents, counselling materials, job aids and other technical resources related to mental health and HIV.
• Support development of a structured mental health service package for integration within existing HIV service delivery platforms, including minimum services, roles, referral pathways and monitoring indicators.
• Support implementation assessments, operational research, quality-improvement initiatives and programme learning activities to generate evidence on feasible and scalable models for HIV and mental health integration.
• Review relevant national and international evidence, policies and emerging approaches in HIV and mental health and advise Alliance India on their applicability to programme implementation in India.
• Document good practices, innovations, implementation experiences, case studies and lessons learned related to mental health integration and provide recommendations for institutionalisation and scale-up.

• Provide technical inputs and implementation support to the Paperless ART Centre initiative, including paperless and digital workflows, documentation, client tracking, referral/linkage, data use, quality improvement and client experience.
• Support ART Centre reviews, ART Score Card and supportive supervision processes, including identification of field-level gaps, corrective actions and follow-up of improvement plans.
• Support capacity building of Alliance India consultant teams and ART Centre personnel on Paperless ART Centre processes, digital tools, supportive supervision, quality improvement and problem-solving approaches.
• Provide technical support to strengthen nutrition assessment, counselling, referral and linkage within HIV, ART Centre and community-based service platforms, particularly for vulnerable clients and people living with HIV.
• Identify opportunities to integrate nutrition screening and counselling with routine HIV/TB and ART services and support development or adaptation of practical nutrition-related tools, guidance and capacity-building approaches.
• Identify programme gaps and opportunities for innovation across Alliance India’s HIV, mental health, Paperless ART Centre, nutrition and other programme areas.
• Support design, piloting, implementation, assessment and documentation of innovative approaches that improve case identification, linkage to care, treatment adherence, retention, quality of care and client outcomes.
• Facilitate structured innovation and quality-improvement processes, including problem identification, solution design, pilot testing, outcome measurement, learning and scale-up recommendations.
• Review programme data and qualitative information across relevant programme components to identify trends, bottlenecks, missed opportunities and areas requiring corrective action.
• Support development and refinement of indicators, monitoring mechanisms, dashboards and review processes for mental health and other assigned programme components.
• Provide mentoring, on-the-job technical assistance and capacity building to Alliance India consultant and programme teams and support technical meetings, workshops, reviews and consultations as required.
• Coordinate with NACO, relevant national and state programme stakeholders, ART Centres, community-led organisations, technical partners and other stakeholders to strengthen alignment and implementation of programme priorities.
• Contribute to preparation and review of concept notes, proposals, presentations, technical reports, guidelines, training materials, donor updates and other programme documents.
• Document programme innovations, good practices, success stories and lessons learned for internal learning, government engagement, donor reporting and potential scale-up.
• Perform any other technical or programme responsibilities assigned by Dr. Manish or Alliance India management that are relevant to the objectives of the consultancy.
• Deliverables
• Documentation of programme learning, good practices, innovations and scale-up recommendations.
• Periodic technical progress reports and review presentations highlighting achievements, challenges, recommendations and next steps.
• Identification, development, piloting and documentation of innovations and quality-improvement approaches across assigned programme areas.
• Nutrition-related technical inputs, tools/guidance and programme improvement recommendations.
• Technical inputs and implementation support for the Paperless ART Centre initiative, including quality improvement, supportive supervision, digital workflows and documentation.
• Technical resources, tools, SOPs, job aids, training materials and capacity-building support related to mental health, as required.
• Technical guidance and implementation support for integration of mental health within HIV service delivery and ART Centre/community platforms.
• Technical work plan for the consultancy period, with clear priorities, activities and timelines for mental health and other assigned responsibilities.

• Essential: MBBS degree from a recognised institution.

• Minimum 10 years of relevant experience in public health, HIV/AIDS programmes, health systems strengthening, mental health, or related areas.
• Demonstrated experience in programme design, implementation, technical assistance, capacity building and stakeholder coordination.
• Experience working with government health programmes, ART Centres, community-led organisations or large-scale public health programmes is preferred.
• Experience in HIV, TB, mental health, nutrition, digital health, quality improvement or programme innovation will be an advantage.
• Experience in developing technical documents, tools, training materials, programme reports and presentations.
• Strong understanding of HIV treatment, care and support services and the Indian public health programme context.
• Strong knowledge of mental health and psychosocial support approaches relevant to people living with HIV and other priority populations.
• Understanding of ART Centre functioning, supportive supervision, quality improvement and digital/paperless service-delivery approaches.
• Knowledge of nutrition assessment, counselling and referral in the context of HIV and vulnerable populations.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and programme-management skills.
• Ability to identify, design, test and document innovative approaches for programme improvement.
• Excellent facilitation, training, communication, writing and presentation skills.
• Strong stakeholder management and coordination skills, including engagement with government and community partners.
• Proficiency in MS Office and digital data/reporting tools.
• Commitment to rights-based, stigma-free, confidential and client-centred services.