Torture Care at SPIRASI

SPIRASI is a non-profit, humanitarian organisation that works with survivors of torture to engage in a healing process to achieve their full potential, whatever their ethnic, gender, religious, or political background in the common goal of the prevention of torture worldwide.

SPIRASI has been working with survivors of torture since early 2001 and is the only specialist centre in Ireland for the care and rehabilitation of survivors of torture and severe trauma. In recognition of this, SPIRASI achieved accreditation by the International Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims (www.irct.org) in May 2003.

All these services are free of charge to our clients who, to date, come from the asylum seeker/refugee community. SPIRASI does not provide primary health care and our services are designed to complement mainstream health care. In addition the SPIRASI Public Awareness Programme delivers training and makes presentations to relevant stakeholders on the following issues: health care in a multicultural environment, the prevalence, and patterns of torture, the symptoms and treatment of survivors of torture and the torture care services provided by SPIRASI.

In 2002, Ireland ratified the UN Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. This imposes on Ireland legal obligations to provide services for survivors of torture. This is critical if they are to begin to come to terms with their harrowing experiences and fully integrate into Irish society.

The World Health Organisation defines health as a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. Furthermore, The European Council for Refugees and Exiles argues that health should be considered a vital element in the integration process as people's quality of life and personal development is related to their physical and mental well-being.

SPIRASI's integrated, multi-disciplinary and holistic health care can be best represented by the AT-HOME acronym — that all services are Accessible, delivered in a Timely manner, provide true Holistic care that is Orientated to the specific needs of the individual client in a Multi-disciplinary centre that is also Enabling through client consultation on how to improve services.

SPIRASI provides a comprehensive range of services free of charge to survivors of torture:

• Medical Assessments
• Medico-legal Reports
• Cross-cultural Counselling / Psychotherapy
• Psychosocial and Integration Support
• Art Psychotherapy
• Outreach Support
• Complementary Therapies
• Group Psychotherapy
• Support Groups
• • Reflexology
  • Chinese Massage
  • Capacitar Wellness Education Programme
  • Mindfulness
  • Focusing

Since SPIRASI began caring for survivors of torture in 2001, services have been provided to 1,962 clients.The total number of nationalities seen to date is 82, the majority of these coming from African countries (68%), but with an increasing number of clients coming from Middle East (19% in 2006) in recent years. In 2007, SPIRASI treated 892 clients survivors of torture from 66 different countries.

Training

The CCST provides professional training to other health care professionals (both statutory and non-statutory) in dealing with refugees and asylum seekers covering issues such as understanding cultural differences; dealing with trauma, grief, loss, and bereavement; as well as understanding and helping clients to cope with the stress of living in direct provision.

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