THEMATIC REPORT 2017 Key Action 3: Provide individual and group therapy, medical care and pharmacological treatment Individual therapy is widely used by IRCT member centres and is one of the most effective means of rehabilitation. Psychologists at KHIAM Lebanon, for instance, often use narrative therapy, an approach, which deconstructs the stigmatisation of sexual abuse and helps the victims understand that they are not guilty and that they have a right to justice and rehabilitation. Group therapy is another beneficial treatment for victims of sexual torture employed by the centres. As noted throughout this report, survivors often feel stigmatised by society and blamed for what happened to them. Through interacting with others who experienced similar forms of abuse and through sharing their stories, victims of sexual abuse can begin to relinquish their feelings of guilt and shame. KHIAM Lebanon explains: “This method builds mutual empathy and support among the clients, it erases their feelings of guilt and disgust, and enables them to take a pro-active approach towards their recovery.” By sharing different strategies to cope with difficult situations, survivors can put their own behaviour and feelings into perspective and discover a whole range of possibilities to tackle their concerns. CTV Bosnia & Herzegovina explains: “Working in groups offers the opportunity to make some efforts to network and to function as a group not only here, during the treatment, but also during their ordinary lives. In their network, they find reciprocal support and this makes self-healing possible outside of the centre, during their own lives. One of our clients even created her own organisation out of her experience.” This experience shows how group therapy can also function as a social enabler, teaching survivors how to participate in public life. Step by step, they can learn to appreciate social interaction once more, to verbalise their experience in front of others, and to live their day-to-day life in spite of the trauma. SEXUAL TORTURE Key action 3 Provide individual and group therapy, medical care and pharmacological treatment Challenges: • Inaccessibility or deficiency of the public health sector. • Scarcity of training for medical professionals about the needs of victims of sexual torture, including the importance of confidentiality and the ability to build trust. • Reluctance of survivors to disclose their traumatic experience to medical professionals and specifically to approach the public health sector. • High costs of therapy, medical treatment and medication which can be unaffordable for survivors. • Lack of funding for health-based NGOs working in the sector. Recommendations: • The public health sector should offer professional, confidential, free or heavily subsidised medical and psychological treatments as well as pharmacological medication to sexual torture survivors. • Non-governmental rehabilitation centres should offer medical assistance where the public health sector does not provide free and good services. Governments should make funds available to this end. • All health professionals working with survivors of sexual torture should be trained to support them in an impartial, respectful and confidential manner, to identify respective signs and symptoms of sexual torture and to be sensitised to the needs of this specific category of victims. • Medical professionals should identify volunteer survivors of sexual torture who have completed their therapy to encourage others to seek help. page 27