Center for Victims of Torture

12/12/2025

CVT is hiring a Psychotherapist/Trainer in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico to work as part of an interdisciplinary team to address trauma rehabilitation needs and provide metal health services to torture and trauma survivors. In this role, you’ll oversee and coordinate individual and group psychological interventions and liaise with other NGOs and local organizations. Click below for details. To apply, submit resume, cover letter and salary expectations to: CVTMexico@CVT.org.

https://www.cvt.org/wp-content/uploads/Psychotherapist_Trainer_Mexico_Eng_FINAL.pdf

CVT está contratando un/a psicoterapeuta/entrenador/a en Nogales, Sonora, México, para trabajar como parte de un equipo interdisciplinario en la rehabilitación de personas que han sufrido traumas y brindar servicios de salud mental a sobrevivientes de tortura y otros traumas. En este puesto, supervisar y coordinar intervenciones psicológicas individuales y grupales, y colaborar con otras ONG y organizaciones locales. Haga clic a continuación para obtener más detalles. Para postularse, envíe su currículum, carta de presentación e información sobre sus expectativas salariales a: CVTMexico@CVT.org.

https://www.cvt.org/wp-content/uploads/Psychotherapist_Trainer_Mexico_Espanol_FINAL.pdf

12/12/2025

CVT Georgia’s Arman team held a special meeting with partners who are such an important part of our work with the Afghan community in the Clarkston area. We send gratitude and recognition to our partners:
Afghan American Alliance of Georgia - Ethnē Health - Friends of Refugees - Georgia Asylum and Immigration Network - GAIN - Georgia State University - International Rescue Committee - International Rescue Committee Atlanta - Morehouse School of Medicine - Refugee Women's Network

12/11/2025

How do survivors prioritize elements that repair the wrongs of war? CVT issued a new report with perspectives on justice and healing from formerly abducted women and their children who were born in captivity in Northern Uganda during the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war. Watch here for three key priorities, beginning with justice.

Read the report here:
https://www.cvt.org/wp-content/uploads/Repairing-the-Wrongs-in-Northern-Uganda.pdf

12/10/2025

“Meaningful social relationships are fundamental to human dignity and well-being.” In a new article, authors Lisa Hattori, evaluation and research lead, and Dr. Jenn Esala, senior evaluator and researcher, highlight evaluation findings from CVT's Arman and Raahat projects that demonstrate the importance of community support in healing. They write, “On Human Rights Day, when we recognize the basic dignity and rights all people deserve, it is important to reflect on our innate desire for and right to social connection and care.”
https://www.cvt.org/articles/mental-health-is-a-human-right-cvts-afghan-projects-bring-social-connection-and-healing/

Imagine that you are on your way home from work and receive a call from an unknown number. They leave a voicemail threatening you because of how you voted in the last election.

12/10/2025

“Now is not a time for timidity or silence,” – a message from Dr. Simon Adams, CVT president and CEO, on Human Rights Day. In 2025, it is more important than ever that we stand up for human rights and reject all who want to dilute the protections in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

12/09/2025

What do you get someone who's rebuilding their entire life from zero?

Maybe a rice cooker so they can cook their own food in a tiny shared space. Winter boots for their first Minnesota winter. Soccer cleats so they can join our team and find community. A daily planner to manage the chaos of appointments - medical, legal, therapy, and social services. A sewing machine for a former tailor who uses sewing to cope.

These aren't hypothetical. These are actual requests from torture survivors at our St. Paul Healing Center this year. What would you add? Which would you choose?

12/09/2025

CVT is proud to announce our new program in Sonora, Mexico and the region, where the team supports individuals and families who had their migration plans disrupted in Northern Mexico. We also provide training and capacity building to area organizations and connect with our program in Tucson, Arizona, to provide case management binationally. Read more here: https://www.cvt.org/what-we-do/communities-we-serve/americas/mexico/sonora/

CVT se enorgullece de anunciar nuestro nuevo programa en Sonora, México, y la región. Nuestro equipo apoya a personas y familias cuyos planes migratorios se vieron interrumpidos en el norte de México. También brindamos capacitación y desarrollo de capacidades a organizaciones de la zona y nos conectamos con nuestro programa en Tucson, Arizona, para brindar gestión de casos a nivel binacional. Lea más aquí: https://www.cvt.org/what-we-do/communities-we-serve/americas/mexico/sonora/

12/06/2025

NEW: “’The shooting is a tragedy,’ Yumna Rizvi, CVT’s senior policy analyst, said in a statement. ‘So, too, is the Trump administration’s response — a series of collective punishments for all Afghans and immigrants more broadly in the United States. CVT condemns both.’” Read John Rash's new column in the Star Tribune.

From columnist John Rash: If convicted, the Afghan immigrant accused of murdering Sarah Beckstrom should face the full extent of the law. But other Afghan arrivals might, too, in a case of collective punishment that would present legal and ethical issues.

12/04/2025

There are moments when silence is not an option. The recent comments made by President Trump about the Somali community in Minneapolis — calling an entire diaspora of people “garbage” he doesn’t want in this country — demand a clear and unequivocal response.

At the Center for Victims of Torture, we work every day with people who have survived violence, conflict and torture that forced them to leave their homes. Many Somali Minnesotans came here seeking safety, dignity, and the chance to rebuild their lives. To have their humanity dismissed by the president of the United States is both harmful and profoundly unjust.

CVT stands firmly and unapologetically with our Somali neighbors, colleagues, and clients. From our headquarters in St. Paul, we have seen the strength, generosity, cultural richness, and leadership that Somali community members bring to Minnesota. They are leaders, caregivers, innovators, business owners, and essential contributors to the social and economic fabric of our state.

We know from our work with survivors of torture and conflict-related trauma that hateful rhetoric is not harmless. It emboldens discrimination. It isolates communities. It causes real emotional and psychological harm — especially to those who have already endured the worst of humanity.

Shared with permission.

12/03/2025

The derogatory comments from President Trump about the Somali community in Minnesota are unconscionable. His words are meant to sow division. CVT stands with the Somali community.
Read our statement here: https://www.cvt.org/statements/cvt-stands-with-the-somali-community/

12/03/2025

NEW: As the CVT Raahat project serving Afghans in Minnesota winds down, Mahdi Surosh, project manager, writes about the project’s impacts on clients. He writes, “Reflecting on this journey, I am profoundly moved by the resilience of Afghans and other refugees, whose courage and determination to rebuild their lives in a new land have taught me invaluable lessons about hope and perseverance.”
Click to read his article:

Dozens of Afghan women, dressed in their colorful traditional attire, sat around Dastarkhān, our “traditional dining space," on an autumn day in a regional park in St. Paul, Minnesota.