(Updated March 15, 2021) COVID-19 INFORMATION: Our physical offices are currently closed to comply with state-wide COVID-19 precautions. However, our services for torture survivors and their families are still available and will remain available. This includes case management, therapy, psychiatry and psychological evaluations. We are accepting referrals at this time. You will find our English and Spanish referral forms at the top of this webpage. If you need to contact us, we are still available by phone on our main line at 619-278-2400 or by email at survivors@notorture.org – please leave a message with your name, number, and why you are contacting SURVIVORS.

If you have a life threatening emergency, please call 911.

If you have a mental health emergency and are unable to contact SURVIVORS, please call the San Diego Access & Crisis Line at 1-888-724-7240 for immediate help. Confidential and free of charge, the line is immediately answered 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and can assist in 150 languages within seconds.

Our Mission

• Facilitate the healing of torture survivors and their families;
• Educate professionals and the public about torture and its consequences;
• Advocate for the abolition of torture.

We Help Torture Survivors Get the Help They Need at No Cost

Psychotherapy

Services are tailored to meet individual needs and include crisis intervention, individual and family therapy, groups, home visits, and coordination with other providers.

Psychiatry

Services include thorough evaluation of clients, medication prescription and management, and regular follow-up by a psychiatrist.

Asylum Support

Medical affidavits conducted by physicians and psychological evaluations conducted by licensed mental health professions for submission as evidence in immigration proceedings.

Healing Club

Healing Club helps counter clients’ feelings of shame, humiliation, and isolation. Activities have included art projects, nature walks, and cooking classes.

Interpreters

Interpreters facilitate conversations among clients, our staff, and health care providers. We maintain a network of interpreters representing more than 30 languages.

Case Management Services

Case management services address emergency needs for our clients, such as food, clothing, and housing. Our team also distributes blankets, bus tokens, and hygiene items.

Learn more about SURVIVORS

Do you have a service club, book club, or a group of friends, co-workers, or family members who you think would like to learn more about how Survivors of Torture, International is providing hope for torture survivors, helping them to rebuild their lives, and building a welcoming community for all survivors?

Become a volunteer ambassador – invite and host a Journey to Healing tour at our office. Please contact us at 619-278-2421 or survivors@notorture.org if you are interested.

Client Story

This is the story of one of our clients. You can also watch our YouTube videos and read an article from the San Diego Union-Tribune to learn more about the people we serve.

Mana – Middle East

Mana was a landscape architect in the Middle East. In 1997, many municipal employees in Mana’s home town were arrested for political reasons. She was one of them. For 18 months, she was imprisoned and tortured. “I was in solitary all the time. I was like a blind person. I lost that time. I didn’t have any news from my family. As a single mother, I didn’t know the situation of my two kids.” Through the torture and the bad conditions of her imprisonment, Mana got into a really critical health situation. For this reason she was sent to the hospital from which she escaped to Turkey, then to the Netherlands where she stayed in a refugee camp. After four years, she was accepted by the United States as a refugee. In 2002 she arrived in San Diego.

Through SURVIVIORS Mana received medical and psychiatric care, as well as found a place to live. Mana says that SURVIVORS and other humanitarian organizations “are the only way that we can survive and adjust in this country. I think that SURVIVORS is my family, my second home. If they didn’t accept me and help me, I could have committed suicide or gone crazy. And it is not only me. There are many, many victims of torture who can get treatment, get lawyers.”

Mana is now a teacher in a school here in San Diego. She is thankful to be here and feels fortunate to have escaped, though many of her peers did not. “Most of them are in prison or executed. Or have a very bad situation. Many, many educated women, innocent people, are tortured-for nothing. I am the luckiest one that I am here.”

SURVIVORS meets all 20 of BBB Wise Giving Alliance’s accountability standards.

SURVIVORS is a recognized Live Well San Diego partner.