Welcome to the October 2025 issue of CVT World, CVT’s periodic compilation of the latest news, stories and public activities from our team.
CVT’s Annual Restoring Hope Breakfast: October 23, 2025, Minneapolis
CVT’s development team had a wonderful success with the annual Restoring Hope Breakfast in Minneapolis. Congratulations to Shelby Ankrom, events specialist, and Laura Kuhlmann, head of donor engagement, who ran a flawless event. Shelby said, “This year’s Restoring Hope Breakfast was the most successful in the event’s 15-year history! I am so incredibly proud of all of our speakers and am in awe of the generosity of our community. The energy and emotion in the room was palpable, and when Ophelia, our featured speaker, sang a song of resilience, there wasn’t a dry eye in the audience. The success of the morning was truly a group effort, and I feel so grateful to be surrounded by such an amazing team of colleagues.” Check out photos here from the event.
This year’s Restoring Hope Breakfast was the most successful in the event’s 15-year history! I am so incredibly proud of all of our speakers and am in awe of the generosity of our community.”
-Shelby Ankrom, CVT events specialist
CVT Commemorates Our 40th Anniversary
To honor CVT’s 40th anniversary we published two articles covering highlights from our history. Here is Part 1 of the two, with information about our early days on the campus of the University of Minnesota, followed by expansion as a global organization. “When I began at CVT in 1998, we didn’t have many staff – we held our staff meetings in the living room of the house where CVT resided,” said Ruth Barrett, former CVT vice president of global operations. “And when I left CVT in 2023, our staff meetings included CVT colleagues located in clinics throughout the world.”
And check out more in Part 2 of this article, with details about CVT’s expansion, key events and actions, and many wishes for a strong future. Curt Goering, former executive director, commented on these challenging times for human rights and humanitarian work, noting that “. . . when many governments have abandoned or undermined the global struggle for human rights, or even become participants or accomplices in their violation, at a time of resurgent denial of torture and its impacts, and increasingly, its justification, the role of CVT has never been more critical or needed.”
In addition, Dr. Rosa Garcia-Peltoniemi, former CVT senior consulting clinician, wrote this article titled “From the Beginnings of CVT: A Personal Story,” commenting on her work in the early years as the organization was getting started. She writes about what drew her to CVT and her work with some of the very first survivors who came for care. She writes, “Time and again they talked about how important it had been for them to have the confidential and comprehensive services provided by CVT.”
Professional Quality of Life: CVT’s ProQOL Tools Support Helping Professionals
Alyce Eaton, program evaluator for capacity development, wrote this article about the Professional Quality of Life (ProQOL) tool and its uses around the world. She notes that the ProQOL is an “assessment tool that allows helpers – people in helping professions – to reflect on the ways their work is impacting them, both positively and negatively.” Alyce adds, “Even though the work is rewarding, coping with these emotional challenges and second-hand trauma makes a difficult job harder.” She writes that the ProQOL is available in 30 languages, and an average of 185 people take the assessment every day.
Implementing a New Law in Support of Yazidi Survivors in Iraq
Yusra Al-Kailani, senior resilience programming trainer, spoke on this podcast episode titled “More than Ink on Paper,” hosted by our partners at Coalition for Just Reparations (C4JR). Yusra speaks about efforts to implement the Yazidi Survivor’s Law in Iraq, talking with two experts from Physicians for Human Rights, Maram Haddad and Abdulrazzaq Al-Saadi. Listen to hear about how professionals are working to implement the law, support survivors and advance justice.
Bridging Healing and Justice for Survivors
Yusra Al-Kailani also wrote this article about how after years of providing therapy to survivors of torture living in Jordan, she kept thinking about the importance of justice. She writes, “As therapists, we talk about the future with them but we forget about the ambiguity in their futures. I try to keep in mind this question: How can they think of the future when there is no justice?” She decided to work in the new Survivors of Torture Initiative (SOTI), helping people connect with processes or systems for justice.
Working with Effective Tools to Manage Grant Applications
Dana Mach, strategic partnerships officer, was featured in a profile article on the Instrumentl website – they are a company which provides software and tools for efficient management of grant applications. Dana commented that especially during sweeping funding changes, “The landscape had changed, and we needed to rethink our strategy while keeping our programs alive.”
Commentary as 1 Million People Return to Syria
Yusra Al-Kailani is quoted in this article in the Washington Post about the impacts Syrians are experiencing as they return to their country after war. Yusra comments on the challenges people are facing as they return, but she said, the “people of Syria have hope and want to rebuild their country, and they want to rebuild the relationships between them.”
Supreme Court Lets Trump Withhold $4 Billion in Foreign Aid Approved by Congress
Scott Roehm, director of global policy & advocacy, is quoted in this CNN article that published as the Supreme Court allowed President Trump to continue holding foreign aid funding. Scott says, “Gutting that program punishes torture survivors; people suffering from the deep physical and psychological scars that torturers inflict.” He adds, “The administration is abandoning torture victims to serve a naked political agenda, nothing more.” A similar article ran on AOL as well; both articles were picked up by global news media.
The administration is abandoning torture victims to serve a naked political agenda, nothing more.”
-Scott Roehm, CVT director of global policy and advocacy
Commentary on Human Rights as UN General Assembly Begins
Dr. Simon Adams, president & CEO, spoke on Australia’s Radio National Hour program as the UN General Assembly began in New York, and at a time when several nations have recognized Palestinian statehood. He comments on the role of the UN and international community and the need for action at this moment: “In the year 2025, we as human beings, we as a human family, surely we can make sure that we don’t allow any other people to face a genocide, to face bombing from the skies of civilians who are starving, or the politics of the mass grave and the machete. Surely we can end that.”
In the year 2025, we as human beings, we as a human family, surely we can make sure that we don’t allow any other people to face a genocide, to face bombing from the skies of civilians who are starving, or the politics of the mass grave and the machete.”
-Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president & CEO
Simon Adams also spoke on Channel News Asia tv in this story titled “Wars in Gaza and Ukraine on UNGA Agenda amid Shift in Global Power Dynamics.” He commented, “There’s a growing groundswell of support for an end to what’s happening in Gaza, to violations of international humanitarian law, to the deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people. And there’s a growing consensus that the only way out of this is a two-state solution that recognizes Palestinian sovereignty.”
Back-to-School Project Supports Children at the U.S. Southern Border
“What began as a small gesture became a binational celebration of solidarity, ensuring that every child, regardless of circumstance, walked into the classroom with dignity, hope, and joy,” write our partners at SAMU First Response in this article about a special back-to-school project for children living in Nogales, Sonora, and both Tucson and Nogales, Arizona. CVT’s Proyecto Mariposa team in Tucson participated in the project, which brought more than 750 donated school items to children. Hosted by SAMU First Response, CVT worked with multiple partner agencies, consulates, businesses and volunteers to prepare and distribute the school kits. Read SAMU’s article here.
Working in Coalition with Partners
Working with partners brings strength to CVT’s policy advocacy. We regularly participate in organized coalition actions that support survivors of torture. Below are recent coalition and partner actions.
- CVT joined this open letter condemning the targeting of nonprofits by the Trump administration in order to defund, discredit and dismantle them. “We of course unequivocally reject political violence,” the authors write, adding, “No president–Democrat or Republican–should have the power to punish nonprofit organizations simply because he disagrees with them.”
- This article on Al Jazeera covers a letter to Congress that CVT joined along with almost 60 organizations, condemning recent U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean. The groups warn about a number of risks, including the risk of regional war. The authors write, “We fear that, barring decisive action by members of Congress, there will be more strikes, more extrajudicial killings, and potentially a full-blown limitless war with one or more countries in the region, with likely devastating humanitarian and geopolitical consequences.” Read the letter here.
- CVT signed a coalition letter with ACLU, Center for Democracy & Technology and others, which was covered in this article in Government Executive magazine by David Dimolfetta. The letter urged Senate and House intelligence committees leaders to keep Senate confirmation for CIA and Office of the Director of National Intelligence top lawyers as safeguards against overreaches, especially with past actions like the CIA post-9/11 torture program. The authors write, “The general counsels of the CIA and ODNI wield extraordinary influence, and they do so entirely in secret, shaping policies on surveillance, detention, interrogation and other highly consequential national security matters.” The story was picked up here in The TechStreet Now.
- CVT joined more than 250 civil society organizations in signing this open letter: “Call for UN Member States to Uphold, Preserve and Strengthen International Refugee, Human Rights and Humanitarian Treaties.” The authors urge UN member states to uphold human rights and work against efforts to undermine legal norms. They write, “Adherence to treaties has saved lives, upheld human dignity, and protected millions of people from persecution, torture and other human rights abuses.”
