(Buffalo, NY) The Western New York Center for Survivors of Torture (WNYCST), a program of Jewish Family Service of Buffalo & Erie County, is now a member of the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims.
The JFS Western New York Center for Survivors of Torture (WNYCST) was voted into membership in December 2017 along with 11 other organizations worldwide, including two others from the U.S. This brings the total number of U.S. torture centers that are IRCT members to 18, which includes the Bellevue / NYU Program for Survivors of Torture and the Florida Center for Survivors of Torture -A Program of the Gulf Coast Jewish Family Services, Inc., after which the JFS center is modeled.
Headquartered in Copenhagen, the IRCT is currently comprised of 150 centers in 70 countries.
“We’re proud of what we do. Achieving IRCT membership recognizes and extends the original vision for the Western New York Center for Survivors of Torture, and honors the Jewish value system on which our agency is founded,” JFS President and CEO Marlene Schillinger said.
“IRCT membership also gives us international recognition in a global initiative committed to consistent protection of human rights, provides an opportunity to share resources and best practices, and validates the need for providing such support for torture survivors living here in Western New York.”
Launched in 2013, the WNYCST provides direct services to assist torture survivors and their families living in Western New York in the healing and recovery process. It serves individuals who have suffered torture in foreign countries and are now present in U.S., including refugees, asylees, asylum-seekers, immigrants and other displaced persons. U.S. citizens who were tortured abroad — as well as Holocaust Survivors and their families — are also eligible for WNYCST services.
Comprised of a decentralized, multidisciplinary team of experts across the four fields of torture survivor services – medical, psychological, social and legal — the JFS Western New York Center for Survivors of Torture enables survivors to attend to their health, build effective support networks and lead productive, meaningful lives. Integrated services are delivered through Journey’s End, UB Family Medicine and the Holocaust Resource Center. Jewish Family Service administrative offices at 70 Barker Street serve as the administrative base. JFS employs the WNYCST director and two bilingual / bicultural care coordinators and this core staff provides survivors with a primary point of contact and integrates their individualized support services across the three partner organizations.
Funded initially by the New York State Health Foundation, the Western New York Center for Survivors of Torture is now supported through the Office of Refugee Resettlement and private donations.
“JFS is the heart of the Center and home base to its clients and staff. Since 2013, we have enrolled an estimated 250 torture survivors, and our care coordinators guarantee a client-centered, flexible approach to treatment which recognizes that no one service is essential to restoring individual health