IRCT REGIONAL REPORT 2016 Thousands of refugees entered Germany in 2015 and 2016, many of them on foot | © Janossy Gergely Staff at social welfare offices do still deny requests to access certain types of treatment they deem “unnecessary”. This is often the case when traumatised asylum seekers request therapy sessions. Psychotherapy and other specialised treatment is provided to torture victims through organisations such as bzfo but the number of locations where this is available are limited and centres are running at full capacity. Furthermore, many torture victims do not live near these specialised service providers so do not have access to adequate treatment in practice. Regional authorities are able to exercise administrative discretion in deciding what constitutes “necessary treatment” and hence whether to provide a torture victim with state funded therapy. Bzfo often intervenes in the cases of individual clients to argue that therapy should be considered “necessary treatment” but the outcomes of these interventions are not always successful. At the federal level, torture victims normally do not receive support to address their special reception needs. However, at the regional level, there have been some projects in conjunction with NGOs. For instance, bzfo participated in a project, which attempted to institutionalise the early identification of torture victims with the regional authorities in Berlin.9 Bzfo trained staff from state authorities who would potentially encounter torture victims, to identify signs of traumatisation. If they noticed signs of traumatisation, the asylum seeker would then be referred to bzfo and be able to see a psychologist. Bzfo collaborated in-depth with the regional authorities but also with the social workers at the reception facilities to identify the needs of torture victims. Even with this in place there are still problems, as it is difficult to get the authorities to provide special support even when a torture victim has been identified. In Berlin, there are three specialised reception centres for vulnerable persons, including those that are traumatised. One of the main distinguishing features of these specialised centres is that they have smaller rates of occupancy per room, meaning that rooms are occupied by one or two people, compared to the standard four to ten people per room in the normal reception centres. Bzfo commends the authorities for the standards in place at this specialised centre, however, due to the lack of identification procedures, many torture victims do not have access to these centres. Bzfo offers training on how to work with traumatised persons as a part of the Berlin Network for Particularly Vulnerable Refugees project. The training is offered to social workers, NGO staff that run reception centres, regional authority staff and psychologists working with traumatised people. In the past, bzfo also provided training for staff at the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), however, this has been discontinued in recent years. page 23