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Torture treatment joins Miami Office's portfolio of services
Abigail Alexander explaining the program to a visitor.
Photo: Carol Fouke-Mpoyo
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Comprehensive treatment and support services for survivors of political torture have been added to the Church World Service Immigration and Refugee Program Miami Office's already diverse portfolio of services, through a partnership with the Florida Center for Survivors of Torture (FCST), a program of Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, Inc., based in Clearwater.
Program Manager Abigail Alexander and her two staff colleagues are based right in the Miami Office. So when CWS staff observe that a client is having mental health difficulties, they can put him or her in touch with Alexander, who is just steps away. Similarly, if any of FCST's clients need legal, employment, or other services, referring them is easy.
"This is our newest program," said Virginia Coto, Director of the CWS Miami Office. "To me it is very important that we provide mental health services to victims of torture. Before, we would refer clients out, but now we offer comprehensive, in-house services here."
Alexander said being housed in the CWS Miami Office "gives us a tremendous advantage. Virginia has helped us with resources and contacts, introduced us around, and explained our intake process."
The Florida Center for Survivors of Torture opened in 2000 in the Tampa Bay area, extending services to Greater Miami in May 2005. The Miami branch serves clients from Miami-Dade, Broward, and Monroe counties. FCST is the only torture treatment center in Florida and is funded by the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement and the United Nations.
"The Center's presence in our offices has heightened our awareness that self-sufficiency includes mental health, the whole of the person," Coto said. "We have to look at the client as a whole, and not just focus on legal or employment issues." Alexander agreed, noting that "torture survivors' experience becomes so integrated into their day that it can affect their ability to make daily plans, parent, and stay on top of appointments."
Another advantage of working side-by-side with a resettlement program is that clients get referred to the Center much sooner following arrival in the United States, Alexander said. "Typically, in Tampa Bay, our clients come in after they already have been in the United States for four or five years."
In addition to serving clients, FCST-Miami has ambitious training and outreach goals, which target refugee resettlement workers, teachers, medical health providers, attorneys, prospective clients, community groups, and the general public. "We are building awareness that torture survivors live in the community, and educating about the torture treatment movement," Alexander said.
See resources on torture treatment
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