As refugees from nearby countries move into the vast camps in Dadaab, Kenya, they go through a process of settling in and learning about the new environment. Because most refugees here have fled countries like Somalia and South Sudan with known histories of conflict and violence, it’s important to CVT to reach out to help as many torture survivors as needed.

“I am suffering and sad.” This is one of hundreds of comments made by torture survivors as they complete CVT’s intake process. In each of CVT’s International Services projects, one of the first activities in which a survivor participates is a thorough intake interview. These intake assessments are important to building the therapeutic relationship and providing us with a better understanding of our clients.

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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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 seventh 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.

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 sixth 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.

After building a sense of safety and confidence in the survivors during the first three counseling sessions, we slowly enter the trauma processing phase of the group cycle. In session four, we have them first imagine themselves as birds flying over rivers that represent their lives. They draw their rivers of life, starting with birth, placing symbols and labels for traumatic events and for times when life was calm or happy.

In our international projects, our healing work for torture and war trauma survivors is conducted through group counseling. Groups typically meet for ten weeks. This is the first in a series of posts following the counseling group cycle in Jordan.

Veronica Laveta is CVT’s clinical advisor for the Jordan project.

Read other entries in this series.

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Judith Twala, MA, is a psychotherapist/trainer with the Center for Victims of Torture in Dadaab, Kenya. Dadaab is the world’s largest refugee camp in the northeast region of Kenya, close to the Somali border. Most refugees in this complex of camps are from Somalia with others from South Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other countries.

As a psychotherapist /trainer with the CVT Dadaab project, I have been interacting with war and torture survivors from the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Ethiopia, Southern Sudan and Somalia for more than two years. Though from different mother countries, these survivors share one thing in common and that is ambiguous loss.

From across the nation, a group of psychologists, Grad Students Talk: Psychology Graduate Students Invested in Social Justice, are discussing current issues affecting our communities. The group conducts conference calls to discuss events and actions that are relevant in our communities. As a safe place for dialogue and ideas to be considered, Grad Students Talk has recently touched on the topic of torture.