2007 Campus-Community Partnerships
Family Connection and Healing for Los Angeles Survivors of Torture
| Awardee: | Program for Torture Victims |
| Partner: | Todd Frank UCLA Department of Social Welfare UCLA Center for Healthier Children, Families, and Communities |
Abstract:
Victims of torture settle in Los Angeles seeking safety and freedom from the persecution, intimidation, and violence they suffered at the hands of their own governments. Not only are they confronted in the U.S. with daunting legal institutions, language barriers, and economic difficulties, survivors are separated from their families and social networks and plagued by the aftereffects of the torture they endured. The Program for Torture Victims (PTV) is the only agency in the greater Los Angeles area that provides the specialized psychological, medical, and social support needed by torture survivors and their families, at no cost to them. PTV has partnered for years with UCLA Social Welfare faculty, Ph.D., and MSW students to plan and implement a pilot client assessment and program evaluation project designed to learn more about this population and how PTV could better attend to their unique needs. “Family Connection and Healing for Los Angeles Survivors of Torture” will allow PTV to continue and expand these research efforts, in addition to adding the organizational capacity to educate clients in preparation for family reunification and provide semi-annual events that bring reunited families together for safe social activities with others who have been through similar life-altering experiences.
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