North America
The Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST) was founded in 1986 by activists and mental health workers in Vancouver, west coast Canada, to support refugees arriving from armed conflicts in Central America.
Meet Kathi Anderson who co-founded Survivors of Torture, International (STI) in San Diego, USA, in 1997 and led the organisation for 25 years. San Diego’s location, just 30 kilometres from the border with Mexico, makes it a hub for refugees fleeing violence. But back in the 1990s, the city had little or no services for those many refugees left traumatised by torture. Anderson saw the need, and so with two co-founders set up a torture rehabilitation centre that has now helped thousands of survivors rebuild their lives.
Our Members in North America:
Canada
Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture (CCVT)
Intervention Network for Persons Having Been Subjected to Organised Violence (RIVO)
Vancouver Association for Survivors of Torture (VAST)
United States
Access – Psychosocial Rehabilitation Centre for Victims of Torture (APRCVT
Bellevue – NYU Programme for Survivors of Torture (PSOT)
Bilingual International Assistant Services (BIAS)
Boston Centre for Refugee Health and Human Rights (BCRHHR)
Centre for Survivors of Torture, Dallas (CST)
Centre for Survivors of Torture, San José (AACI/CST)
De Novo Centre for Justice and Healing (DENOVO)
Florida Centre for Survivors of Torture (FCST (JFCS)
Heartland Alliance Marjorie Kovler Centre
Libertas Centre for Human Rights
Mount Sinai Human Rights Programme (MSHRP)
Programme for Survivors of Torture and Trauma at the Multicultural Centre of Northern Virginia Family Service (PSTT)
Program for Torture Victims of Los Angeles (PTVLA)
Survivors of Torture International
The Centre for Victims of Torture (CVT)
Torture Abolition and Survivors Support Coalition, International (TASSC)
Torture Treatment Centre of Oregon (TTCO)
UC San Francisco Trauma Recovery Centre (TRC – UCSF)
Utah Health and Human Rights (UHHR)
Western New York Centre for Survivors of Torture (WNYCST)