Center for Victims of Torture: Helping Victims Heal
Posted by Charity Watcher on Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Torture, and the trauma that comes with it, is a sad reality for many people living in war-stricken nations. The effects of this type of traumatic experience can run deep and have strong repercussions not only on the individuals who have experienced torture, but the society they belong to as well.
The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) is an international non-profit organization based in St. Paul Minnesota. The organization’s goal is to help survivors of torture through counseling and other mental health services that would help them heal mentally, emotionally, and psychologically. The idea to form CVT began in 1985 when Minnesota governor Rudy Perpich’s son, a volunteer for Amnesty International, asked him what he is doing for human rights. Governor Perpich then convened a committee comprised of experts on human rights to research and explore possible initiatives they could undertake to help with human rights endeavors. There were several proposals given to him, but he chose the most ambitious one of all – to put up a center that would help victims of torture in the US as well as from war-stricken nations.
During the first two years, the survivors were treated at the International Clinic located at the St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center; however, they needed a less rigid place for survivors to feel more at home, so they moved to the St. Paul Healing Center in 1987. The organization began its international operations in 1993 when they sent CVT psychotherapists to Croatia and Bosnia to train their care providers on torture victim treatment.
Today, the CVT not only trains care providers in war-stricken countries. They have established a presence in areas where they are needed and help heal the victims directly. Their Minnesota site on the other hand, offers not just psychological services and counseling. They also offer nursing and physical therapy services to help with the physical pain left by torture as well.
The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) is an international non-profit organization based in St. Paul Minnesota. The organization’s goal is to help survivors of torture through counseling and other mental health services that would help them heal mentally, emotionally, and psychologically. The idea to form CVT began in 1985 when Minnesota governor Rudy Perpich’s son, a volunteer for Amnesty International, asked him what he is doing for human rights. Governor Perpich then convened a committee comprised of experts on human rights to research and explore possible initiatives they could undertake to help with human rights endeavors. There were several proposals given to him, but he chose the most ambitious one of all – to put up a center that would help victims of torture in the US as well as from war-stricken nations.
During the first two years, the survivors were treated at the International Clinic located at the St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center; however, they needed a less rigid place for survivors to feel more at home, so they moved to the St. Paul Healing Center in 1987. The organization began its international operations in 1993 when they sent CVT psychotherapists to Croatia and Bosnia to train their care providers on torture victim treatment.
Today, the CVT not only trains care providers in war-stricken countries. They have established a presence in areas where they are needed and help heal the victims directly. Their Minnesota site on the other hand, offers not just psychological services and counseling. They also offer nursing and physical therapy services to help with the physical pain left by torture as well.
