CVT — Free Peer Support Groups for Torture Survivors
The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) is the largest torture survivor rehabilitation organization in the world, founded in 1985 and headquartered in Minnesota with healing centers across the U.S. and internationally. CVT provides direct mental health care to torture survivors — most often through small-group peer support that meets weekly for about ten weeks, divided by population (adults, children, men, women, age cohorts) so survivors can heal alongside peers who share both the experience of torture and demographic context.
What to Expect
Most survivors at CVT receive small-group counseling — weekly groups of about eight to twelve survivors that meet for approximately ten weeks, facilitated by trained CVT clinicians and paraprofessional peer counselors. Groups are organized so members share the experience of torture trauma and broadly similar demographic contexts (age, gender, region of origin), which makes the peer connection in the group profound. CVT also provides individual counseling, family work, social services support, medical care referrals, and community-level rebuilding. The model has been refined over four decades and is among the most evidence-informed approaches to torture rehabilitation in the world.
Who This Group Is For
CVT serves survivors of politically motivated torture — refugees, asylum seekers, and others who have been tortured by state or non-state actors. Survivors come from countries across the world and may have arrived in the U.S. recently or years ago. CVT has in-person healing centers in Minnesota, Atlanta, and Washington DC, plus virtual options that extend reach beyond those metros. The Center also trains local community members as paraprofessional peer counselors who continue to support survivor mental health networks in their communities after CVT direct services end.
Why Peer Support Works
For torture survivors, healing in community with other survivors who understand both the specific trauma and the broader context of forced displacement is often more effective than individual clinical care alone. CVT’s small-group format gives survivors that peer experience while providing the clinical structure and trauma-specific expertise that this population requires. Survivors consistently describe their CVT groups as one of the most healing experiences of their post-torture lives.
How to Join
CVT services are free for survivors. Visit cvt.org to learn about healing centers, request services, and explore the resource library. Survivors can reach CVT through the website’s intake forms, by phone, or through partner refugee resettlement and legal organizations that frequently refer to CVT.