Many international organisations, including the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the World Health Organization (WHO), increasingly highlight the need for psychosocial services alongside physical services for refugees and asylum seekers. A lack of access to psychosocial services might have a profound impact on individuals’ well-being as well as their ability to integrate into a host or resettlement country. However, while humanitarian workers are often well trained to address physical needs (such as shelter, food, health, language and culture), they are not always equally equipped to provide psychosocial support. This study, based on in-depth interviews with 15 humanitarian workers in the United States, discusses the limitations, dilemmas and challenges these workers face in addressing the psychosocial and mental health needs of refugees and asylum seekers. It employs an analytical framework rooted in the literatures on street-level bureaucrats and the humanitarian sector. This framework helps us understand how humanitarian workers operate under various constraints and face conflicting demands and ethical dilemmas in the United States.
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