Our Story
Our work began with a simple conversation. As a young volunteer for Amnesty International, Rudy Perpich, Jr. asked his father – then Governor of Minnesota – a tough question: “What are you doing for human rights?” Inspired by his son’s challenge, Governor Perpich … read moredirected a committee of human rights experts to research various initiatives. The most ambitious proposal from this group was a rehabilitation center for survivors of torture.
Governor Perpich embraced the idea. He went to Copenhagen, Denmark, to visit the first treatment center in the world, the Rehabilitation Center for Torture Victims, and appointed a task force to determine how such a center could be established in Minnesota.
A Home for Healing
CVT was founded in 1985 as an independent nongovernmental organization. For the first two years care was provided at the International Clinic of St. Paul Ramsey Medical Center. In 1987 we moved to a more home-like and less institutional setting that would feel welcoming to survivors.
Today CVT provides care from our St. Paul Healing Center. The house was designed to meet the needs of torture survivors, with domestic furnishings, large windows and rooms with rounded or angled corners to create an environment much different from the stark square rooms with glaring lights that most torture survivors experienced.
Expanding Healing Services
Our international work began in Bosnia and Croatia in 1993. With the war still raging, CVT psychotherapists travelled to the region to train care providers in the specialized treatment of torture survivors. In 1995 we began working with centers in Turkey to strengthen the skills of medical professionals and nongovernmental organizations that work with survivors.
In 1999 CVT launched its first international direct healing program working with Sierra Leonean refugees in Guinea, West Africa. We provided direct mental health counseling to refugees who were suffering from torture and trauma due to the multiple conflicts in the region. CVT psychotherapists also trained residents of the refugee camps as paraprofessional psychosocial peer counselors – peer mental health counselors – who continued to support a local mental health network after the program finished in 2005.