We spoke to our colleagues with CVT Jordan about emergency mental health care. Leah James, CVT psychotherapist/trainer, and Simone van der Kaaden, Country Director-Jordan, discuss what it means to provide care in a situation where refugees face significant ongoing challenges and how they use “vicarious resilience” to counter a dark world view.

Can you describe what emergency mental health means?

The New York Times recently reported on migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border and the hardship to those seeking asylum in the United States caused by the backlog of cases pending before the immigration courts.

My fellow Muslims, people who spoke the same language, had the same r

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) today released a report on the number of asylum claims in 44 industrialized countries.

With the Syrian refugee crisis expected to reach 4 million by the end of this year, the Center for Victims of Torture joined other groups urging the Senate to pass a resolution to increase support, including mental health counseling, to Syrian civilians and victims of the conflict, particularly children.

Last Friday we posted about the agreement between the UN refugee agency and the governments of Somalia and Kenya to voluntarily repatriate Somali refugees. Today, we share Juda’s story. Juda is a psychosocial counselor with the Center for Victims of Torture-Dadaab. Although most refugees living in the complex of camps in Dadaab are from Somalia, there are also refugees from South Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea and other countries. Juda is from Ethiopia and tells how news of the agreement has caused him concern.

Last November, the United Nations refugee agency and the governments of Somalia and Kenya signed an agreement to support the voluntary return of Somali refugees. According to the UN, Kenya hosts 470,000 Somali refugees, the majority of whom live in the Dadaab refugee complex.