Why CTTS is needed in Georgia

Georgia ranks in the top ten of states that receive refugees in the United States. Responding to their needs including their mental health needs, CTTS opened on February 1st, 2005 after receiving a grant through the Torture Victims’ Relief Act (TVRA), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). CTTS primarily serve its clients at DCBOH however, a great deal of services are provided in the client’s home, community centers, or at locations convenient to clients.

Currently there are about 28 treatment programs in the United States serving an international population of torture survivors. CTTS is one of these National Centers and the only one located in Georgia and the entire south excluding Florida. CTTS is unique as it is the only torture treatment center in the nation that is connected to a county governmental agency. CTTS not only receives torture survivors from Georgia, but other southern states as well. Before the existence of CTTS, there were no locally available services for torture survivors in Georgia. The center is 100% grant supported and is a community-based program housed in a local public health agency that welcomes between 85 and 90% of Georgia’s newly arrived refugees annually.

Based on statistics from the MPI Data Hub it is estimated that the population of foreign born living in metro-Atlanta is between 350, 001 to 700,000. The foreign-born population in Georgia changed from 577, 273 to 868,413 representing a change of 50.4 percent. In 2007, 9.1 percent of Georgia’s population was foreign born, compared to 7.1 percent in 2000 and 2.7 percent in 1990. In just one year alone (2006 – 2007) 31,606 immigrants moved to Georgia from abroad. It is further estimated that the number of torture survivors ranges from 86,841 to 173,682.
Many more refugees have resettled in Georgia as secondary migrants. Of the total 72, 524 foreign born who moved to Georgia (31,606 from abroad, 43.6%), 40,918 or 56.4 % arrived from other states.
CTTS receives a great deal of referrals from the DCBOH Refugee Health Program (which screens between 85 and 90% of all refugees resettled in Georgia from refugee resettlement agencies, and through community education and outreach.
Survivors are encouraged at the end of the program to volunteer and help fellow new-comers become active participants in the community. They are also encouraged to join or supported in forming their social community clubs and organizations as part of increasing their support and community healing.

The term foreign bornrefers to people residing in the United States at the time of the census who were not US citizens at birth. The foreign born population includes natural-ized citizens, lawful permanent immigrants, refugees, and asylees legal non-immigrant’s (including those on student, work, or other temporary visas, and person residing in the country without authorization.

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Statistics for FY 09