Florida Center for Survivors of Torture

The National Partnership for Community Training (NPCT) is a technical assistance project aimed at promoting and disseminating best and promising practices in the torture rehabilitation field from existing torture treatment centers from the United States and around the world. This project is funded for three years by the Office of Refugee Resettlement under the Torture Victims Relief Act of 1998.

NPCT is a partnership between the Florida Center for Survivors of Torture in Tampa Bay and Miami, Florida; the Harvard Program in Refugee Trauma in Cambridge, Massachusetts; and the Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture in Chicago, Illinois. Together, NPCT provides technical assistance to those working with refugees, asylum seekers and other immigrant populations, to increase awareness in serving torture survivors.

NPCT assists and supports providers nationally through training and technical assistance in areas of the country where there are no torture treatment centers. Using promising practices from existing torture treatment programs around the world, NPCT promotes practical and applied techniques to identify, refer, assist and effectively serve torture survivors.

Needs Assessment and Evaluation

The project staff conducts needs assessments to determine local and community capacity and needs to serve torture survivors.

Technical Assistance and Training

Based on outcomes from the needs assessment, trainings are tailored to meet local and community needs. Specialized trainers from the torture treatment field provide practical and applied assistance in the areas of physical, psychological, social and legal services among other areas to increase awareness of the unique needs within the torture survivor population.
Trainings will benefit organizations and professionals serving immigrant populations in communities where there are no specialized torture treatment centers. Priority areas include states that receive targeted assistance grants. Specifically these include the following:

• State Agencies
• Resettlement Agencies
• Mutual Aid Associations
• National Professional Associations

Professional Disciplines include:

• Medical
• Psychiatric
• Psychological
• Immigration Law
• Social Work
• Case Management
• Administration

Peer Mentoring

Professionals from mainstream and refugee agencies can be linked with torture treatment professionals who will offer support and guidance, depending on needs, geographical location and organizational capacity to better serve survivors in the communities in which they live.

Multi-disciplinary resources

In partnership with the Harvard Program for Refugee Trauma and the Marjorie Kovler Center for the Treatment of Survivors of Torture, NPCT gathers and disseminates promising practices from the torture treatment movement including resources from a wide range of disciplines that impact the healing process of torture survivors living in the United States today.

On-going Assistance and Support

As part of the NPCT’s continued technical assistance program, each of the areas visited receive technical reports of their training and its outcomes. At the three and six month mark following training, the NPCT prompts each location with follow-up surveys to assess the level of progress based on the Community Action Plan. On-going assistance and support is provided by the NPCT staff and its expert partners.

Online Community

NPCT provides a venue for continued information and resource sharing through a Google Group Online Community http://groups.google.com/group/ecsst1. Following a training, participants are invited to join the Group and can participate in online discussions and post questions regarding the torture survivor population. If you are interested in accessing the online community please email [email protected].