The Democratic Republic of Congo

CVT Past Project

For more than five years, a regional conflict raged in the eastern region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), leaving 5.4 million dead, 1.7 million people displaced and countless torture and trauma survivors.

Our project in the DRC provided mental health care to men, women and children who were tortured during the violent conflict. We hired and trained local counselors to lead counseling groups and reach out to the community. Expatriate psychotherapists supervised these counselors and provided individual counseling to men and women who need additional care.

Between 2007 and 2012, we helped more than 4,800 survivors directly and conducted community events with thousands of Congolese to educate community members about the consequences of torture.

Though many kinds of violent torture were perpetrated in the DRC, rape was one of the most devastating. Sexual torture was used to unimaginable levels of frequency and severity. CVT addressed the needs of the large number of survivors, both male and female, and became the referral destination for counseling for cases of rape during armed conflict.

In addition to providing healing services, we:

• Trained the staff of international nongovernmental organizations and other agencies to provide appropriate care for survivors.
• Conducted home visits to support family members.
• Reached out nearly 30,000 Congolese through community and group events with information about the effects of torture, how they can care for themselves and services that are available.
• Our DRC project was funded by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration; the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights; and the UN Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture.

Strengthening the Congolese Psychology Network
The Trauma Healing Initiative—Africa project provided training and coaching to local organizations and mental health professionals. We worked with clinical psychology faculty and students at the University of Lubumbashi, DRC, to create a strong mental health network that will continue to heal survivors of torture. The students gained hands-on experience in caring for survivors of torture and war trauma through internships with our community healing projects in Lubumbashi and Moba.  

This project is funded by The European Union’s European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) through December 2011.

Links

• Restoring Dignity after Sexual Torture, CVT Newsletter
• U.S. State Department 2012 Human Rights Report: Democratic Republic of Congo
• UN Refugee Agency profile Democratic Republic of Congo

Files

• CVT Training Psychosocial Counselors.pdf