A House with Two Rooms - The Advocates for Human Rights

• The United States Government should expand federal funding for torture treatment under
the Torture Victims Relief Act.
• The relevant government authorities should support the development of programs designed
specifically to provide services to former combatants and others who were held behind rebel
lines. Because torture treatment centers sometimes maintain policies that prohibit them from
serving those who participated in fighting, this population is currently underserved.
• The relevant government authorities should support the development of programs to train
and deploy Liberian community mental health workers in large diaspora communities.
Training curricula should be based on a curriculum designed by specialists in the field.
• The relevant government authorities should increase efforts to support seeking mental
health assistance and to decrease the stigma associated with mental health treatment from all
sources in the community including peer-to-peer education, clear messaging from leaders,
and increasing creativity in providing services so as to increase privacy and anonymity.
• The United States Government should extend Medicaid or other comparable insurance
coverage to Liberians to enable them to access appropriate mental health treatment, including
prescription medication.
• The relevant government authorities should support the development of pilot programs that
specifically address cultural barriers to healthcare access in communities where there are
large Liberian populations.
• The United States Government should link access to health services with the refugee and
asylum service systems to ensure that care providers are aware of arriving asylees and refugees
and can provide them with information about available health services.
Employment Services
Liberians in the diaspora are underemployed.
Many with professional qualifications
are unable to work in their
chosen fields due to lack of recognition of
credentials or experience gained abroad. 474
Liberians with qualifications from U.S.based
institutions may lack the job search
and interviewing skills to effectively gain
employment. Accordingly, The Advocates
urges state, federal, and local government
entities, as well as community-based organizations,
to take the following actions to
assist Liberians in preparing for the U.S.
job market and securing employment.
Potential Implementation Strategy:
Integration of Foreign-trained Health Professionals
In Minnesota, the African-American Friendship
Association for Cooperation & Development in
collaboration with the International Institute of
Minnesota provides programs to assist African-trained
health professionals to integrate into the U.S. health care
system. 475 This program could be evaluated for potential
expansion to other professions and other states with
large Liberian communities. Moreover, a state pilot
program helped support foreign-trained medical
professionals as they pursued U.S. credentialing and
licensure.
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