Liberia Significantly Increases Number of Mental Health Professionals and Services

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: In Atlanta: Rennie Sloan, [email protected]
In Monrovia, Liberia: Janice Cooper, [email protected]
and Wilfred Gwaikolo, [email protected]

230 clinicians are now trained in mental health, with 64 specializing
in the needs of children and adolescents

ATLANTA…Twenty-two clinicians specializing in child and adolescent mental health graduated today in Monrovia, Liberia, from a training developed by the Carter Center’s Mental Health Program in partnership with the Liberia Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. These graduates, the third cohort of clinicians focused on children and youth will provide mental health and psychosocial care in schools, clinics, and other child and youth-centered settings.

These graduates bring the total number of professionals trained to 230 through a collaboration between The Carter Center Mental Health Program in Liberia and the Liberian government to improve access to mental health services in Liberia. Those clinicians now work in primary care facilities, hospitals, and other settings children frequent, like daycare centers and schools, across all 15 counties to provide much needed care as the country seeks to strengthen its mental health services. This group of Liberian nurses, physician assistants, and registered midwives completed a free, six-month, Child and Adolescent Post-Basic Mental Health Training Program at the Tubman National Institute of Medical Arts in Monrovia, Liberia.

"Liberia is making a brighter future for all of its citizens by investing in the mental health of adults, children, and adolescents," said former U.S. First Lady and Carter Center Co-founder Rosalynn Carter.

Liberia is on course to reach its goal of expanding access to mental health care to 70 percent of the population within the next few years. In addition to the clinicians, this nation with a current population of 4.6 million has three psychiatrists to meet the needs of at least 300,000 Liberians suffering from mental illnesses.

Graduates of The Carter Center program passed a credentialing exam earlier this month administered by the Liberian Board of Nursing and Midwifery and the Liberia Physician Assistants Association to practice as licensed mental health clinicians. This allows them to return to their counties of practice as child and adolescent mental health specialists and to practice in primary care settings that focus on children and adolescents, or to begin working in school-based clinics. These graduates also are critical to Liberia's post-Ebola and post-war recovery.

Attendees at the graduation program received messages from the deputy minister of health and the medical officer from WHO in Geneva who specializes in child psychiatry and neurology, among others.  In a pre-recorded statement, Dr. Chiara Servili, a child neurologist and child psychiatrist, noted the "unprecedented international awareness of child and adolescent mental health needs" that required "concrete actions" in order to have "a meaningful impact on the lives of children and adolescents.” She urged graduates who are given "very challenging and very rewarding tasks” to reach out to families in need and support them.

Since 2010, mental health clinicians trained by The Carter Center have made a lasting impact in their communities by establishing new services at the ground level. Clinicians have opened 14 clinical practices in prison systems, treated refugees from the Ivory Coast conflict, supported the nation's first mental health consumer organization, worked in Ebola Treatment Units (ETUs), and provided psychosocial supports to individuals and families affected by the Ebola virus. In addition, midwives have been trained to screen for maternal depression. This new cohort of child and adolescent mental health clinicians is assisting in these efforts by providing specialized care to Liberian youth. Seven schools now have clinicians in their clinics or have regular visits by mental health clinicians.

"With every group of clinicians trained, there is enthusiasm around how they will contribute to filling gaps in the emerging mental health system. As a child mental health specialist, it is personally fulfilling to have child and adolescent health mental health providers in our workforce. We are proud to add to this group that can support children and adolescents all over the country," said Dr. Janice Cooper, a native Liberian and project lead for the Carter Center's mental health initiative in Liberia.

The training is part of a three-year initiative to address the psychological effects of Liberia's Ebola crisis and to promote psychosocial health in the country. The project, Supporting Psychosocial Health and Resilience in Liberia, is funded through the Japanese Social Development Fund, a trust fund administered by the World Bank. The project is expected to reach approximately 18,000 beneficiaries in Montserrado (including Monrovia) and Margibi counties work closely through county health teams.

In addition to promoting long-term health and resilience through the newly credentialed child and adolescent mental health clinicians, the project provides support to respond to the intermediate psychosocial impact of Ebola. The Carter Center, in collaboration with Liberian stakeholders, has trained Ebola first responders in self-care, facilitated community healing dialogues for Ebola-affected families, and trained health and social workers to provide community-based mental health care and family psycho-education. These and other efforts through this project offer support and capacity-building for individuals and communities affected by Ebola. Along with the two county health teams, six school-based health centers have been established.

The psychological impact of more than a decade of civil conflict, which ended in 2003, has contributed to a mental health crisis in Liberia that has been intensified by: misconceptions, stigma, and the resulting discrimination surrounding mental illnesses; lack of mental health care training for health professionals; and inadequate supplies of necessary medications. The Ebola crisis exacerbated these needs.

While every Liberian county now has at least three mental health clinicians, there remains a need to build up services in places with immense treatment gaps. The largest concentration of Carter Center-trained clinicians, 54, serves a population of more than 1 million in Montserrado County, where the capital, Monrovia, is located. Remote areas in some counties like Sinoe, Grand Gedeh, Lofa, River Gee, and Grand Kru can have mental health clinicians leading and shaping mental health services.

The Carter Center's Mental Health Program in Liberia is supported by contributions from individuals, governments, multilaterals, corporations, and foundations such as the UBS Optimus Foundation and the John P. Hussmann Foundation.

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"Waging Peace. Fighting Disease. Building Hope."
A not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization, The Carter Center has helped to improve life for people in over 80 countries by resolving conflicts; advancing democracy, human rights, and economic opportunity; preventing diseases; and improving mental health care. The Carter Center was founded in 1982 by former U.S. President Jimmy Carter and former First Lady Rosalynn Carter, in partnership with Emory University, to advance peace and health worldwide.