Marie Soueid is CVT policy counsel.

Imagine for a moment that the entire population of Washington, D.C. suddenly takes refuge in Tennessee over the course of 5 short years. The new residents, however, are restricted from working, half of their children remain out of school, and housing prices continue to rise for both Tennesseans and Washingtonians.

Curt Goering discusses the new book about Dadaab, "City of Thorns," with author Ben Rawlence.

Guest blogger Alan Goldfarb writes about barriers to refugees and asylum-seekers due to far-reaching definitions of terrorism.

While news reports have focused on refugees desperately seeking safety and stability in Europe, other refugees who have been resettled are working to integrate into new communities such as St. Cloud, Minnesota. Earlier this winter, CVT facilitated a training and networking session in St. Cloud for professionals who work with refugee communities and for the newcomers themselves.

Rights and freedoms are the focus of this year’s Human Rights Day, according to the UN. Those rights and freedoms—freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear – are the basis of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which applies to all human beings. But this year in particular, that last one, “freedom from fear,” gets stuck in my throat. Because we’re not all free from fear these days. Not by a long shot.

Curt Goering, CVT executive director, notes the rigorous screening processes refugees must pass before being resettled into the United States.

In our international projects, our healing work for torture and war trauma survivors is conducted through group counseling. Groups typically meet for 10 weeks. This is the eighth in a series of posts by Veronica Laveta as she follows the counseling group cycle in Jordan. Veronica Laveta is CVT’s clinical advisor for the Jordan project.

Read other entries in the series.

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