TWO out of three torture survivors who seek help from Scotland’s only specialist centre are turned away due to lack of capacity.

Staff at the treatment and assessment centre in Glasgow say they cannot cope with the numbers of brutalised refugees and asylum seekers who need support.

The unit, run by the charity Freedom from Torture, provides psychotherapy and forensic medical reports for use in asylum claims.

As many as 170 people a year receive the assistance, but staff are forced to reject more than 500 others with complex needs.

In addition to those it is forced to turn away, the charity fears there are hundreds more torture survivors living in Scotland who are not receiving the help they need.

Figures suggest 55 per cent of Syrians who have come to the UK from refugee camps in Jordan and Lebanon through the Westminster resettlement scheme have experienced torture or violence.

With around 2000 living north of the Border, centre staff expected 1100 people to look for support. However, only a “handful” have come forward.

Freedom from Torture fears the scattering of Syrian refugees across the country, including remote and rural areas such as the Western Isles and Argyll and Bute, is cutting many off being able to seek help.

Now it is set to launch a pilot project in three regions in a bid to reach more vulnerable people with complex issues.

The mental health scheme, which will work with entire families, will include sessions over six weeks and could be extended with the help of other partners if it proves successful.

Negotiations with local authorities are ongoing and it is not yet known which councils will participate.

The move comes as the organis- ation, which has five centres in the UK and is headed by Scots chief executive Susan Munroe, looks for new ways to meet the needs of the refugee and asylum-seeking population amid strong demand.

The Glasgow team is currently forced to turn away two out of three cases referred by GPs and others.

It is now working on new ways to cater for unmet need, including helping other agencies to provide specialist assistance.

Norma McKinnon, resident psychotherapist and manager of the Scottish centre, told The National: “If people aren’t getting access to services, services have to look at other ways to deliver.

“You don’t go through life-changing events and come out the same. I don’t think there is anything you can say that actually articulates the kind of suffering you see and how long that lasts. We are saying no to a lot of referrals. It’s the worst part of the week when we read through referrals because you are saying no to critical cases, but we are not big enough. We need to be bigger, but we don’t need to be the only people to do what we do.”

McKinnon’s team currently work with families, individuals and lone child refugees.

The profile of client groups varies depending on security and political issues around the world and the impact of conflicts overseas are often reflected in referrals made years later.

Until now, most people seeking sanctuary in Scotland have been housed in Glasgow.

However, the Syrian programme has seen councils from across the country volunteer to help those in need.

Welcoming this, McKinnon nonetheless says it throws up questions about access to specialist services.

She said: “The referrals themselves are often really difficult to read. With Syrians who come here through the resettlement plan, we know that 55 per cent have experienced torture or violence.

“We have seen a handful. We know there are people who could benefit from our services but for some reason we are not seeing them. That may be to do with dispersal.”

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Case Studies: 'When I come here, I feel like I have a friend, I have a family'

SOME wear medical support straps around their arms, others appear as though nothing has happened, but all bear the mental and physical scars of torture.

The men and women gathered in a sunny room in a former secondary school have travelled thousands of miles to get there.

A mixture of ages, some left good jobs behind, others families, but all left to avoid persecution by the state based on ethnicity, religion or both.

Some have homes, some live in night shelters. Attempting to forge new lives in Scotland, they come here to avoid the streets, meet others who can understand their stories and learn to deal with the impact of the torture they suffered.

Members of the support group run by charity Freedom from Torture spoke to The National on condition of anonymity. Many of them felt as damaged by the asylum system as by their attackers. These are their stories.

Sri Lankan man: “Coming here saved my life. I was wrecked and everything was lost – I used to think about going to the river and killing myself. They made me make a promise to go to the mosque and pray. I kept my promise and since then it has saved my life.”

Cameroonian woman: “It feels great to come here – you have a sense of purpose. You are getting up and going to talk to people who are in the same situation as you instead of being segregated on your own.”

Sri Lankan man: “I was tortured – it saved my life to come to the UK. We have all faced some difficult problems but we can’t go back, it would be our deaths. I’ve wanted to end my life lots of times because I can’t sleep. Freedom from Torture has helped us with lots of things and we will never forget that.”

Iranian man: “I have got a lot of problems in my country because I am Kurdish and not a Muslim. I was tortured because of my religion, they beat me and broke my hand and my foot. I left and spent years going through Greece and Turkey – I was in a camp there, it was like prison. I like Glasgow, people are very friendly. There are racists like everywhere, but 80 per cent of people are not.”

Cameroonian man: “I escaped from prison and came to the UK to save my life. I’ve been an asylum seeker for five years and homeless for three and a half years. I live in the night shelter and I have a really difficult life here. The shelter is open from 8pm-8am and every day at 8am you have to pack up your things and go, even if you have nowhere. When I come here, I feel like I have a friend, I have a family.”

Sri Lankan man: “My wife and I had good jobs. One year after I came to Scotland, my doctor referred me. I have been an asylum seeker for nearly seven years and it is like living a jail life. My children cannot go to university, my wife and I cannot work. It’s a very sad life.”

Sri Lankan man: “Scottish people say ‘what are the problems in your country, I’ve been on holiday there and it is beautiful’. It is beautiful, but it has lots of problems. The UK government say it is safe but Freedom from Torture produce lots of reports as proof of what people have gone through. Coming here means getting support, but sometimes I feel like I lost my hope. I am really unhappy as an asylum seeker.”