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Notes from the Ground

When Life-Saving Psychosocial Care Programs are Forced to Stop Work

By Simon Adams, President & CEO
Published February 4, 2025

For 40 years the Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) has supported survivors. Those who come to our clinics include people who suffered unspeakable horrors and lost everything, many because they opposed tyranny and injustice. Thousands of torture survivors and their family members pass through our doors each year. All of that is now under threat.

On the evening of Friday, January 24, CVT was informed by the U.S. State Department and USAID that we were required to immediately stop work on the vast majority of our international healing programs in Africa and the Middle East. Days later, actions by the government suggested that our healing programs in the United States may also be at risk.

Thousands of torture survivors and their family members pass through our doors each year. All of that is now under threat.”

Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president and CEO

This was a shocking and devastating blow. CVT’s international teams moved in a matter of hours to communicate with our clients – in as ethical a way as possible – and let them know their care was ending prematurely. Many were heartbroken.

CVT’s work overseas comprises nearly three-quarters of our $36 million budget. CVT extends rehabilitative care to refugees and displaced people living in Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Uganda and the U.S., and we provide training on resilience and skills-building for human rights defenders and humanitarian workers. The people who are impacted the most by these stop-work orders are people who have already endured unimaginable horrors at the hands of some of the world’s worst human rights abusers – including the former Assad regime in Syria – as well as refugees from countries like Eritrea, South Sudan or Venezuela.

We were also forced to place 75 percent of our colleagues on furlough. This includes highly skilled counselors; clinical supervisors and trainers; social workers; physiotherapists; HR and finance specialists; and additional professionals who make up a holistic team of CVT caregivers and administrators. Many of our staff have worked for CVT for years and built their careers with us. Some are former refugees themselves and serve survivors from dictatorships that they also fled.

The survivors we support come to CVT with deep and complex experiences of trauma. Some were imprisoned and tortured, some have survived persecution and atrocities, some had loved ones taken from them and “disappeared.” And some are children.

Some were imprisoned and tortured, some have survived persecution and atrocities, some had loved ones taken from them and “disappeared.” And some are children.”

In 2023 our clients came from 69 different countries. In Ethiopia alone we cared for more than 6,500 survivors and family members. That same year, our more than 500 staff around the world cared for nearly 18,000 survivors and family members across our various locations.

CVT’s clinical model of care in our international programs is group counseling and physiotherapy, with individual care for survivors in particular need. Social work services are provided in many locations, helping refugees in those countries connect to vital humanitarian services. Sometimes the healing we provide is literally life-saving: at one of CVT’s international projects, 25 percent of new clients indicated they were struggling with suicidal thoughts.

CVT has sown life in me. It has saved me from hurting and killing myself. I am worried about how many people may commit suicide because of not coming to CVT.”

-CVT client

This week our counselors had a difficult conversation about halting the program with a survivor who said, “CVT has sown life in me. It has saved me from hurting and killing myself. I am worried about how many people may commit suicide because of not coming to CVT.”

All the conversations with survivors about the suspension of operations were profoundly sad. However, refugees living in the Nguenyyiel refugee camp near Gambella, Ethiopia, told the counselors that they are still hopeful that they will meet again and continue one day. They refuse to let their hope die.

One woman at Nguenyyiel who had been coming to group sessions said that after fleeing her home in South Sudan she found CVT in the United Nations refugee camp in Ethiopia. She had lost her home, her loved ones, and her farm due to the civil war in her country. Yet, she said the therapy she received from CVT enabled her to recover and rebuild her life. One year after coming to CVT, she had a job and had been able to buy a bicycle and a goat. She said that now she knows she will be okay. She said she hopes the CVT team will be okay too.

In the Gambella team’s farewell meeting with two groups of adolescent children, the counselors reminded the children that although the program is suspended, they have all learned a lot. They know about trauma and emotions, and now they have coping strategies. The children spoke about their experiences of war and therapy, saying that they had learned the importance of looking out for each other. We know they will.

The children spoke about their experiences of war and therapy, saying that they had learned the importance of looking out for each other. We know they will.”

There are many more sad stories from this past week that I could share with you. This has not been the start to our 40th anniversary year that any of us wanted. But we will endure and rebuild. Our work is needed now, more than ever. Because torture survivors still deserve a pathway to healing and hope, not closed doors.

You can help.

Contact your U.S. members of Congress and ask them to continue State Department and USAID funding for life-saving mental health and psychosocial support programs.

Donate to CVT’s Emergency Campaign.

Spread the word – share this article and CVT’s social media posts.

About The Author
Dr. Simon Adams is President & CEO at CVT
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