Freedom from Torture

The Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of Torture, also known as the Medical Foundation, is a medical charity in the United Kingdom committed to documenting cases of torture and helping the full psychological and physical recovery of survivors of torture. The organization was founded in 1985 and is one of the leading collaborators for the Istanbul Protocol.

The Medical Foundation is a human rights organisation that works exclusively with survivors of torture and organised violence, both adults and children. It has received some 43,000 referrals since it began in 1985; in the year 2005 there were 2,455 new referrals from 84 countries.

The Foundation offers its patients medical and psychological documentation of torture, a range of therapies, including psychotherapy, individual and family counselling, physiotherapy and complementary therapies as well as practical advice with housing and welfare benefits. It trains health professionals and others, in the UK and abroad, to work with torture survivors. It also educates the public about torture, campaigns against torture and works to improve the legal framework in the UK regarding the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees.

The Medical Foundation is the only charity in the UK that works exclusively with survivors of torture and organised violence. It cares for both adults and children. It has helped some 43,000 patients since it began and assisted 2,455 new patients in 2005 from 84 countries, including Britain.

Regions from which new referrals arrived during 2005 included: Africa (53%); Middle East (17%); Europe (15%); Asia (12%); and the Americas (1%).

Ninety-nine per cent of its patients are refugees or asylum seekers and suffer all the stresses, often severe, associated with being one: the loss of family, friends, home, job, culture, identity and the fear of being returned to face further persecution. Its patients also include British citizens who have suffered torture abroad.

The Foundation aims to provide survivors of torture with medical, emotional and practical support; to train health professionals and others to work with torture survivors; to educate the public about torture and to campaign to improve the legal framework regarding the treatment of asylum seekers and refugees.

Services offered include practical help and advice with housing and welfare benefits, and a range of therapies, including psychotherapy, individual and family counselling, physiotherapy and complementary therapies. The child and adolescent department works specifically with children who have been tortured, whose parents have been tortured or who have witnessed atrocities perpetrated against their families.

Doctors document evidence of torture for patients’ asylum applications. Although taking this evidence is done primarily for legal purposes, doctors often find that patients derive psychological benefit in telling their stories to people who are willing to listen patiently to their suffering and to document it for the record.

Most importantly, the Foundation is a place where survivors can feel that their experiences are recognised and where they can safely express their grief and anger.

The Foundation’s 152 paid staff (equivalent to 103 fulltime) and about 245 volunteers include doctors, clinical psychologists, family therapists, psychotherapists, physiotherapists and counsellor-caseworkers. A team of administrators, fundraisers and public affairs experts, who aim to raise the public's understanding of torture, backs frontline clinicians. Fifty-two experienced interpreters provide translation services in some 60 languages.

External links

• Medical Foundation for Care of Victims of Torture