This set of handouts, and the description that follows, was generously shared by Jennifer Shuart of Lowell Community Health Center's Metta Center in July 2016. Ms. Shuart is available to consult if you have further questions; contact healtorture@cvt.org for an introduction.

We began administering the RHS-15 screening in July 2015 at Metta.  What we observed prior to this is that clients were referred after a negative screening for behavioral health, but when they came in for the intake appointment really had no understanding of counseling or desire to engage in treatment.

We try to complete

CVT's Partners in Trauma Healing (PATH) creates bibliographies every quarter. The PATH bibliography is a resource for current literature on the topic of the mental health status of and treatments for torture survivors, war trauma survivors, refugees, and asylum seekers. This also includes research in the areas of social work that relate directly to the psychological wellbeing of these populations.

Early work with the Survivors of Torture Psychosocial Well-being Index (SOT-PWI), developed by Dr. Farber & Joan Hodges-Wu, shows promising results.  Survivors of torture experience numerous psychosocial stressors that threaten individual well-being in resettlement. This study reports findings from a pilot test that applied the newly developed Survivors of Torture Psychosocial Well-Being Index. The study used a case-level mixed design to assess survivor psychosocial well-being across 16 life domains from intake up to 18 months. Ecological systems theory grounds this study.

This new literature review was coauthored by The National Capacity Building Project at the Center for Victims of Torture, the National Partnership for Community Training at Gulf Coast Jewish Family & Community Services, and an expert in the torture rehabilitation field. It was published in Torture Journal (Vol. 26 No. 1).

Group treatment is an approach that can be used with larger groups of survivors and addresses a range of treatment issues. The authors examined key clinical practice issues for group treatment, including group composition and content, facilitation, and measurement strategies. The article points to a growing interest in the topic of group treatment for survivors of torture and severe violence, providing a comprehensive picture of group-based interventions, and highlighting the need for additional research and knowledge-building.

By Adriana Lee Benedict; Linda Mancini; and Michael A. Grodin, MD. 

Published in Mental Health, Religion & Culture, 2009. 12(5): p. 485-499.