Group therapy model for refugee and torture survivors

The paper discusses the Center for Torture and Trauma Survivors’ therapy group model for torture survivors and describes two of its variants: The Bashal group for African and Somali women and the Bhutanese multi-family therapy group. Group therapies in this model extend to community healing. Groups develop their cohesion to graduate to a social community club or initiate a community organization. New graduates from the group join the club and become part of the social advocacy process and of group and individual support and community healing. The BASHAL Somali women’s group that developed spontaneously into a socio-political club for African women, and the Bhutanese family group that consciously developed into a Bhutanese community organization are discussed as two variants of this new model of group therapy with torture survivors.

Ibrahim A. Kira PhD, Asha Ahmed PhD, Vanessa Mahmoud, MA* &
Fatima Wassim, MA*