rity have caused new asylum cases to be fast-tracked, resulting in immigration at-torneys not being connected to potential clients and/or not having time to secure documentation or services for clients. SURVIVORS is seeking licensed mental health professionals to provide psycholog-ical evaluations for asylum-seeking clients, helping them to win their cases and restart their lives where they feel physically safe. Looking forward, SURVIVORS rec-ognizes the big gap between the estimated 35,000 torture survivors living in San Di-ego County and the 2,000 clients we have served. With your support, SURVIVORS will continue to serve some of San Diego’s most vulnerable, yet resilient, residents.

vulnerable individuals helps them to be-come self-sufficient and healthy members of their families and of our community. Drawing on 20 years of experience, SURVIVORS’ staff are local and interna-tional leaders in the torture rehabilitation movement. SURVIVORS provides cultur-ally competent and trauma-informed care trainings to attorneys, medical profession-als, mental health providers, students, and most recently school district leaders and educators. Understanding torture and its consequences strengthens the community and creates a more inclusive San Diego. SURVIVORS continues to provide life-saving services to torture survivors; how-ever, today, we are faced with considerable challenges. More than 60% of SURVIVORS clients are asylum seekers. Policy changes at the Department of Homeland Secu-

THE SURVIVORJune 2017 / volume 20, issue 1

P.O. Box 151240San Diego, CA 92175-1240

Ph.: 619-278-2400Fax: 619-294-9405

survivors@notorture.orgwww.notorture.org

facebook.com/notorturetwitter.com/notorture

20 Years of Serving San Diego’s Survivors On February 27, 1997, Survivors of Torture, International (SURVIVORS) was co-founded by Kathi Anderson, the Revs. George Falk and William Radatz. Twenty years later SURVIVORS, the first and only accredited torture treatment center in San Diego, is woven into the community. When SURVIVORS first began seeing clients, the organization was located in the home of Kathi Anderson. Now, SURVIVORS is in a 2,800 square foot office space in Old Town, with an additional 20 contracted clinicians providing services off-site. Since 1997, SURVIVORS has cared for more than 2,000 torture survivors from over 80 countries, plus served more than 600 children through an after-school program, and educated more than 24,000 people about torture and its consequences. SURVIVORS helps torture survivors in San Diego county recover from their traumas through a holistic program in-cluding quality mental health, psychiatry, social services, and medical case manage-ment. SURVIVORS empowers torture survivors to reclaim the strength and vi-tality that was stolen from them by bru-tal dictators and governments. The spe-cialized care SURVIVORS provides these

• Facilitates the healing of torture survivors and their families;• Educates professionals and the public about torture and its consequences;• Advocates for the abolition of torture.

Mission StatementSurvivors of Torture, International:

A cake from SURVIVORS’ first birthday party

“I am emotionally tired. I feel I need my life to change. SUR-VIVORS is the only place that

I can find hope to do this.”

- SURVIVORS’ client, from Syria, who wished to remain anonymous

SURVIVORS Hosts International Meeting For three years, the International Re-habilitation Council for Torture Victims (IRCT), an international network of more than 150 torture rehabilitation centers in over 70 countries, has been research-ing and implementing a groundbreaking global database for torture treatment cen-ters. Five meetings in Asia, Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and Sub-Saha-ran Africa have been held. Next, the North American region will determine how to further work together with other torture rehabilitation centers to use gathered data to support accountability, prevention, and rehabilitation of torture survivors.

SURVIVORS will serve as the North American hosting center for the sixth IRCT regional meeting on the data project in San Diego from June 19 to 21, 2017. In attendance will be 30 professionals, includ-ing the IRCT Secretariat and leaders in the field from the United States, Canada, and Australia. The data project, funded pri-marily by the European Commission, is the largest ever undertaken by the torture t r e a t m e n t m o v e m e n t .

deleterious to a survivor’s mental health. Because the detention facility is in a re-mote area of Otay Mesa, access to the fa-cility is limited, and our resources are stretched, we’ve developed a creative way to contact clients and share hope – greet-ing cards. Volunteers, staff, and interns write messages of support and try to con-nect with clients whom they’ve never met in person. Detainees are not allowed mail other than simple letters or cards, and we have learned that the cards we send bright-en the lives of detainees considerably. If you would like to volunteer to write cards for detained clients, please contact our office.

ter into our educational systems in a seam-less manner. Yet, school administrators, counselors and educators are ill-equipped to support the young torture survivors. Per the request of San Diego Unified School District, SURVIVORS has provided trauma-informed care training to school administrators, counselors and teachers. SURVIVORS also has a continued partner-ship with the Cajon Valley Union School District, providing emotional support ser-vices to youth (grades K-8) via an after-school program that includes creative and play therapy, stress and anger management, and acculturation activities. Most recently, SURVIVORS partnered with Grossmont Union High School District (grades 9-12), to provide services similar to those pro-vided to the students of Cajon Valley Union School District.

Follow SURVIVORS online: www.notorture.org – www.facebook.com/notorture - www.twitter.com/notorture

THE SURVIVOR2

In recent months, SURVIVORS has seen a rise in clients who are 18 years old or younger. In fact, the County of San Diego’s Refugee Coordinator reported that of the refugees who are resettling in San Diego County, half are children age 16 and under. These children, who have experienced and seen torture first hand, are expected to en-

The Light in the Darkness for Detained ClientsJune 2017 / volume 20, issue 1

When asylum seekers present them-selves at the border, they ask permission to stay in the United States. Many are locked up in an immigration detention facility in prison-like conditions, though they have done nothing criminally wrong. The detention environment is highly stressful. It is within those concrete walls that survivors must battle depression, nightmares, homesickness, anxiety, and frustration at being helpless once again, and the daily fatigue of imprisonment. In the past 20 years, 25% of SURVI-VORS’ clients have been detained while they tried to win their cases in the im-migration system. SURVIVORS has ob-served that those long months often are

You Are InvitedSURVIVORS’ 8th Annual

Helping Survivors Heal Fundraising Luncheon

September 14, 2017 12:00 - 1:00 pmDoubleTree by Hilton - Mission Valley

RSVP to 619-278-2400

“I ended up in captivity in the USA in the hope of finding a place where

a man can live without the fear of losing his life. Upon reading your

card the gloom began to depart from my mood. I realized that I was not alone in my suffering. Thank you

and God bless you.”

- SURVIVORS’ client from Africa, who wished to remian anonymous

“Now I know that I can dream again and it’s actually worth it.

That is thanks to you guys. Before I was just surviving without hope.”

- SURVIVORS’ client from Iraq, who wished to remain anonymous

Thank You to Our 2016Helping Survivors Heal Fundraising Luncheon

Underwriters!

Office of Jonathan Doering & Matthew Molstre

More Young Torture Survivors in San Diego

Letters ready to be sent to torture survivors in deten-tion to bring them a long awaited sense of belonging

Children play in a drum circle on the UN Inter-national Day in Support of Victims of Torture.

Your support is imperative to the mission of SURVIVORS. Please consider making a donation in the attached envelope.

Ninety cents of every dollar raised goes directly to SURVIVORS’ pro-grams. Our Federal Tax ID Number is 33-0743869.

Sharon PerkowskiMarian PrivettAlby QuinlanWilliam & Martha RadatzPatricia & Gary RemingRich & Susan RiersonThomas RobinsonSylvia SalomanDavid SantiagoCarol SchmidtDavid A. ShirkAlisa A. ShoragoDavid ShreinerEnid SingerDavid & Kathryn SnellPeggy StamonDawn StaryKaren & David StephensLoren TarmoSiham TitaouLaura TaylorKaye & Stephen ThompsonSusanna ThompsonBrooke TruesdaleHolly VanderpoolCheryl WalczakLowell WaxmanSvend & Elisabeth WestlundCaleb & Naomi WhitlockBetty WiedmerNancy & Stewart WittEllen YaffaBijan ZayerSuzie Ziser

Grossmont Healthcare DistrictGrossmont Union High School DistrictGulf Coast Jewish Family Services, Inc.Hamiltunes SDHurwitz Holt, APLC.Interpreters UnlimitedJCJ ArchitectureJewels by SallyJosephson Werdowatz & Associates, IncorporatedKaiser Permanente Community FoundationKlingenberg Law FirmLaw Office of Schoenleber & WaltermireLaw Offices of Jonathan D. MontagLawyers Club of San Diego Fund for Justice at The San Diego FoundationLewis Greenwood FoundationLuk Accupuncture

THE SURVIVORKathi Anderson & Jesse RiveraJeanette BarrackBrad & Gigi BenterCandace Carroll & Len SimonAnn & Rich DurhamDenise & James FrancisJean Greaves & Greg OlmsteadLydia Grypma & Bob OakleyRick & Ann Hein

Merle & Kay HorstDalia & Gordon HuntAnya Morgan IlfeldDr. Jim Jaranson Fund of the Minneapolis FoundationCarl Josephson & Laura HarrisMelvin & Jane KieschnickRebecca LeVasseurGeorge & Karen Longstreth

Organizations That Financially Support SURVIVORS who gave May 1, 2016 - May 31, 2017. Thank you!

June 2017 / volume 20, issue 13

Individual Financial Supporters who gave October 1, 2016 - May 31, 2017. Thank you!AnonymousHoda AbazariWilliam & Seema AcevesCarol AndersenMargaret AndersonJoyce AndersonAngela AsuncionCheri Attix & Steve RiveraJudith BambaceGale & Steven BarlowBetsy BarnhartGrant BarrettShayne BauerDean BauerDory BeatriceSusanna BeaudieuWilliam & Sheridan BengtsonJudith & Paul BernsteinCarmen & Stephen BerryMargaret BouherCarol BragerWatson & Eren BranchRyan BurkePeggy BurnsFrancine BusbyFaith CampbellFrank & Rebecca CarsonMiryam J. ChocaSusan Christison & John PetersMargie & Roger CoatsBrian CollinsSusannah ConnMary J. Copeland

AmazonSmileBenevolentBethlehem Evangelical Lutheran Church, EncinitasBroadridgeCajon Valley Union School DistrictCalifornia Pan-Ethnic Health NetworkCalvary Lutheran Church, Solana BeachChange A Life FoundationChrist Presbyterian Church, CarlsbadChula Vista Presbyterian ChurchCounty Employees’ Charitable Organization - County of San DiegoCounty of San Diego, Health and Human ServicesFinest City ImprovFirst Unitarian Universalist Church of San Diego

Lush Fresh Handmade CosmeticsMedical Center PharmacyThe Michael Ehrenfeld CompanyMolina Healthcare of CAPacifica Synod Evangelical Lutheran Church of America - Matthew 25 FundPasadena Community Foundation in memory of Patrick Otis HealyPlanned Parenthood of the Pacific SouthwestThe Peacemakers Fund at The San Diego FoundationSan Diego City Schools Community Service AssociationSan Diego OASISSan Diego Unified School DistrictScarano Family Foundation at the San Diego Foundation

Healing Society Members who have made generous five-year pledges. Thank you!

Michael & Mary McKayPat OlafsonKathleen OwensNatalie PearlMahesh & Denise PodarGrant Reeder & Scott WillifordMarlene RuizSt. Andrew’s Lutheran ChurchNancy Sweeney

R. Adele & Thomas DaviesDavid DavisMaryann DeanJames & Tica DeHarpporteAlicia DeLeon-TorresTony DiMeglioMarilyn DubaGinny DunnJill ElsnerDavid EngstromChristine EvansGeorge & Ethel FalkGer FangWendy FieringMelinda FinnTomas Firle & Joan CudheaMarlene ForneyMark FreemanApril FroelichDiane GageDavid GangseiJason GammonGrace GarmoTimothy GriffithsLaura Hageman & Thomas BondGreg HallGinger HallerbergBettina & Kurt HalvorsenJohn & Kaye HambletonMarian Hart & Wayne LieboldFlorian HeckerottRick & Ann HeinSara Hench

June HendrickPaula Herring & Tim BotskoMyles HuckGinger Jacobs & David SchlesingerRick JohnsonSonja F. JonesDavid & Cindy JorstadNiki KalmusKerry KassamRamy KauflerCarmen KcomtJudith KennedyTammy Lane-DillardRichard & Carolyn LiefLydia LopezFairlight & Jeff LowerElizabeth LubranoJerry Madoff & Dena PlemmonsKristen MaherKatherine Matlack & Lloyd PriceF. Marian McGeeJean MeadowcroftElizabeth Michel & Arnold MarkmanDawn MillerJawdat MohammadCarol MorabitoJeremy MurphyHilary NaylorMichael NewhouseKay NewmarkNancy NorcrossElizabeth O’BrienDon Ontage

Sempra Employee Giving NetworkShepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church, La MesaSonnenberg & Company, CPASt. Luke’s Lutheran Church, La MesaSt. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Chula VistaThe California EndowmentThe Kroger CompanyThrivent Financial - Thrivent ChoiceThrivent Financial Office of Jonathan Doering & Matthew MolstreTobi Cares (Tobi.com, LLC)U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee ResettlementUnion Bank

Many thanks to our supportive donors!

Because of you, survivors are re-building their lives. We are grate-ful. We apologize for any errors or omissions and extend our grati-tude for support that may not have been recognized. (Please contact us at 619-278-2400 with corrections.)

The American Psychi-atric Association selected the National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs (NCTTP) as the recipient of the 2017 Human Rights Award. The APA Human Rights Award recognizes ex-traordinary efforts by in-dividuals and organizations focused on promoting and support-ing the human rights of populations with mental health needs. SURVIVORS’ executive director, Kathi Anderson, and NCTTP vice president, Cris Riley, accepted the award for the NCTTP at the APA’s annual meeting, held this year in San Diego.

Geographic Origin Age GenderTHE SURVIVOR

Client DemographicsBetween Oct. 1, 2016 - April 30, 2017 50 new and 119 ongoing clients were serve. An additional 264 refugee children in Cajon Valley and Grossmont High Union School Districts were also served.

• Wednesday, June 28 5:30 - 6:30 pm• Thursday, July 13 8:00 - 9:00 am• Thursday, July 27 6:00 - 7:00 pm• Tuesday, August 8 5:30 - 6:30 pm• Wednesday, August 23 5:30 - 6:30 pm

20 Years of Serving San Diego’s Survivors p. 1SURVIVORS Hosts International Meeting p. 1The Light in the Darkness for Detained Clients p. 2More Young Torture Survivor in San Diego p. 2Financial Supporters p. 3 Client Demographics p. 4SURVIVORS Wins Award from SDCBA p. 4 Torture Treatment Programs Honored by APA p. 4

Survivors of Torture, InternationalP.O. Box 151240San Diego, CA 92175-1240Change Service Requested

June 2017 / volume 20, issue 14Males 74Females 95

Africa 48Middle East 95Latin America 21Asia 2Eastern Europe 3

0-4 45-13 2014-17 218-24 1925-44 8745-64 3365+ 4

The Strength to Survive. The Power to Heal.

For more information go to www.notorture.org or call 619-278-2400.

Join us on an upcoming Journey to Healing tour to learn how we are helping to rebuild torture survivors’ lives.

Our clients were tortured in their home countries due to race, religion, nationality, social group, or political opinion.

SURVIVORS received the Distinguished Organization Award from the San Diego County Bar Association (SDCBA) at it’s An-nual Awards Luncheon and Celebration of Community Service. Carmen Kcomt, a former client, nominated SURVIVORS. “SURVIVORS assists torture survivors to heal so they can move forward with their lives and contribute to their families, com-munities and society as a whole. The pro-gram works. I am proof of that,” she said.

Torture Treatment Programs Honored by American Psychiatric Association

SURVIVORS Wins Award From San Diego County Bar Association

In This Issue: