About 25% of the population of King County are refugees and immigrants. They have fled their countries to escape war, poverty, political violence, and human rights abuses. Many have experienced the loss of loved ones. A significant proportion of women carry the lasting wounds of sexual violence and other forms of gender-based violence that have occurred in their home countries, in the course of their journey towards “safety”, and in their places of resettlement.

Four exceptional community partners have joined us to implement the program: Asian Counseling Referral Services, Refugees Northwest, Mother Africa, and Somali Family Safety Task Force. These organizations are led by and serve refugee and immigrant communities. They have formed a consortium to make Common Threads Seattle come to life.

After training the local clinical staff, in 2022-23, the project will establish eight Common Threads healing circles in King County, engaging more than 100 women in the first year of implementation. Each circle meets for at least six months of weekly group sessions. Common Threads Project clinical faculty will provide ongoing supervision and mentoring so that local staff can achieve a high level of expertise in this methodology and can continue to provide these services for countless survivors in the future.