ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) is pleased to share a new evidence brief that shows nearly all clients reporting had significant mental health improvements after participating in rehabilitative care sessions at centers in Amhara, Gambella and Tigray, Ethiopia. This underscores the important role rehabilitative care can play in recovery among survivors of torture and conflict-related trauma. These results were achieved through the dedicated efforts of CVT staff, who delivered care with great skill and compassion in spite of enormous challenges, ranging from regional tensions and limited resources to full-scale, multi-year armed conflict in Tigray.

The new evidence brief pulls results through the end of 2024, a timeframe that is particularly significant because these CVT rehabilitative programs were abruptly halted on January 24, 2025, when the Trump administration withdrew its USAID and State Department funding. Throughout CVT’s more than a decade providing care across Ethiopia, similar strong program results were shared in detail with the U.S. government, emphasizing the value of the care CVT provides. Despite knowledge of how effective this work has been, the government pulled its funding anyway.

The clients who came to CVT’s Ethiopia centers showed up because they were experiencing mental health symptoms after surviving torture, violent conflict, persecution and, for nearly all, displacement from their homes. Clients participated in multidisciplinary mental health and psychosocial support programs centered on 10-week group counseling sessions, as well as physiotherapy in some locations.

The data collected by CVT clinical and research and evaluation staff shows statistically significant decreases in mental health symptoms at all three Ethiopia locations. The team collects data on symptoms prior to the start of services and again several months after the group counseling sessions have completed. A full 99% of participants reported significant improvement in at least one of these symptoms: depression, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety, somatic and behavioral symptoms, evidence that CVT’s care is an important driver of this healing and recovery.

“These excellent results show just how much therapeutic and compassionate interventions can do for people who have survived extreme trauma,” said Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president and CEO. “The numbers illustrate the story clients have been telling us for decades: Healing is absolutely possible, and healing brings hope – to individuals, families and communities.”

CVT first began extending care in Ethiopia in 2012, opening centers in refugee camps in Tigray to provide counseling to Eritreans who fled their homes. Over the years, the work expanded to multiple locations in the country, and CVT’s reputation for specialized care spread, leading to requests for services from numerous humanitarian organizations.

“Effective mental health care is a lifeline for the populations we have served in Ethiopia,” said Dr. Courtney Welton-Mitchell, CVT director of research and evaluation. “In the aftermath of conflict, healing is critical to rebuilding communities. There is an important role for group mental health work in aiding long-term recovery, as this data suggests.”

CVT has very recently opened a smaller project for clients in Tigray, Ethiopia, with gratitude for new funding from ECHO (Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations) through a sub-award from the Danish Refugee Council. The team will continue to extend group counseling and track outcomes for all clients.

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The Center for Victims of Torture is a nonprofit organization with offices in Ethiopia, Iraq, Jordan, Kenya, Uganda, United States and additional project sites around the world. Visit www.cvt.org