Comments for Caring for Survivors of Torture

Comment on Voices of Survivors by Angela Wheelock

Angela Wheelock — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 07:36:30 +0000

Thank you for sharing these stories. It is hard to believe such things happen. However, i know personally that they do because I live on a university campus and teach refugee students. I have met people from Chile, Guatemala, and Burundi all of whom were either tortured or lost family members to political violence.

I also look forward to seeing the documentary. Keep up your courageous work.

Comment on Research & Training Resources by Ben Achtenberg

Ben Achtenberg — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 02:53:42 +0000

Many thanks to whoever sent in the link to further information about the research cited in the above post: “Torture and War Survivors May Suffer from Chronic Pain in Future.” The studies were is presented at the 7th Pain in Europe Congress in Hamburg, Germany.

http://www.mentalhealthnewstoday.com/09442-torture-and-war-survivors-may-suffer-from-chronic-pain-in-future

Comment on Research & Training Resources by Torture and War Survivors May Suffer from Chronic Pain in Future

Torture and War Survivors May Suffer from Chronic Pain in Future — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:09:15 +0000

[...] Here is the link to the original article: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/234991.phpA recent study supports the idea that traumatic war experiences, such as those experienced by former…as controls. They were made to undergo tests related to pain perception and threshold, plus [...]

Comment on Physicians & Torture by IRCT

IRCT — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:02:50 +0000

Thanks for noting this. It is also especially concerning considering the close contact that physicians and medical personnel have with torture victims – from treating them after the incident to actually inflicting these wounds. We find it also especially disturbing in light of the recent news from Syria from Amnesty International that the government is using public hospitals to attack and torture dissidents.

Comment on Statistics, Statistics… by Mara Rabin

Mara Rabin — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:52:49 +0000

I’m a physician in Utah. We’ve incorporated a question about a h/o violence or torture in all of the refugee health screenings that we conduct (about 1,000/year). We are working on documenting the presence of torture survivors in Utah refugees in 2008,09. This will help expand our understanding of the prevalence of torture in refugee populations in the US.

Comment on Are Asylum Seekers Lying? A Personal Story by Michael Camerini

Michael Camerini — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 23:10:36 +0000

Thank you for your very kind words about our film, Well-Founded Fear. I look forward to your film, it is very needed as you know. We did indeed make two additional ‘modules’ from our filming, one for high schools and community groups, Tales From Real Life, that has short individual asylum cases (and has a detailed discussion guide) and a second video, Practicing Asylum Law, aimed at practitioners and covering such things as translation snafus and what makes a good advocate. You can find us directly at http://www.epidavros.org and http://www.epidavros.org/ss/products.

I’m glad to see your site covers the broader issues of immigration policy too – that’s our current focus as filmmakers.

Comment on Are Asylum Seekers Lying? A Personal Story by business daily

business daily — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 21:01:38 +0000

…………Malaysia will only accept asylum seekers who arrive in Aust after the Canberra transfer deal is finalised…….. …..AN asylum-seeker who was one of the suspected ringleaders of the Christmas Island riots last March has reportedly threatened to take a detention centre staff member hostage prompting a security crackdown at Sydneys Villawood facility……

Comment on Resources: July 21, 2011 by Ben Achtenberg

Ben Achtenberg — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:59:28 +0000

Thanks, Taiwo –
If you can send me more information about this, I’ll try to include it in one of our upcoming “resources” posts — we’re happy to support and advocate for programs like this one.

Comment on Resources: July 21, 2011 by Taiwo Afuape

Taiwo Afuape — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 16:00:34 +0000

There is a very good course run by the Tavistock and Portman Foundation NHS Trust in London UK called working with refugee families starting 10th October 2011, looking at political, social and therapeutic issues. The short course runs every Monday 4.30-6pm Oct – Dec, and makes up part of the Masters in Therapeutic Care for Refugees that runds on a Monday and Tuesday over a year.
If anyone is interested please email me on drtaiwoafuape:yahoo,co.uk
There are still places to book this year.

Comment on Asylum Evaluators Needed by Ben Achtenberg

Ben Achtenberg — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:22:42 +0000

Following up on Trudy’s query, I realized that I didn’t provide enough information on contacting Physicians for Human Rights re: volunteering to do asylum evaluations. The contact procedures are all on the web page listed in my reply, above. In addition, note that PHR also offers an extensive handbook on this issue; you can download the PDF file here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/PHR_Reports/examining-asylum-seekers-manual.pdf