Psychologists in Tajikistan to undergo training on rehabilitation of torture victims

Within the EU-funded project Action for freedom from torture in Tajikistan, the Civil Society Coalition Against Torture and Impunity in Tajikistan (‘the Coalition’) is conducting a training ‘Improving psychologists’ skills in psychological assessment, diagnosis and rehabilitation of torture survivors and/or members of their families’. 

Purpose of the training: Increasing the capacity of psychologists to rehabilitate victims of torture and their families, as well as enhancing their competence with regard to mechanisms and methods of psychological assessment before and after rehabilitation.

Training participants: 16 psychologists from psychology departments in the country’s higher education institutions (Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Region, Sughd Region, Khatlon Region and the city of Dushanbe), as well as practising psychologists from NGOs.

The training will be facilitated by Lilit Gevorgyan, an international expert/psychologist at the rehabilitation centre for torture victims in Armenia, and Gulnora Gulmirzoyeva the national expert in child psychology.

Further on, psychologists who complete the training will be involved in providing psychological assistance to torture survivors and/or members of their families.

Since the beginning of 2017, assistance in rehabilitation has been provided to 35 victims, of whom 21 were men and 14 were women. Twenty-one victims were directly affected by torture and ill-treatment, while the remaining 14 are relatives of victims of torture and ill-treatment. Six victims are minor children.

The Group for the Rehabilitation of Torture Survivors and/or Members of Their Families is one of the working groups affiliated with the Coalition. The Group’s activities are aimed at providing the maximum possible assistance to victims in restoring their independence, as well as physical, mental, social and professional capabilities, and in assisting their full integration and participation in the life of the society.

Location of the training: Conference room at the Guliston Tour hotel. The training starts at 9:00 a.m., local time.

For more information, please contact: Ms. Gulchehra Rakhmanova, Coordinator of the Rehabilitation Group, the ‘Tashabbusi Hukuki’ Foundation, tel.: +992 935782090, e-mail:  gulchehra.rakhmanova@gmail.com.