In 1985 when it was founded, CVT was the first treatment center in the United States dedicated solely to healing torture survivors. Since then, the field of torture treatment has grown dramatically. There are more than 35 treatment centers serving the estimated 500,000 torture survivors in the United States. Most of those centers belong to the National Consortium of Torture Treatment Programs (NCTTP).

CVT was among the leaders in building the NCTTP when it was founded in 1998. The NCTTP works to strengthen its members as organizations and expand their capacity to treat torture survivors. There are 31 full members and three associate members. Abdallah Boumediene of ACCESS Center for Torture Survivors in Dearborn Michigan, serves as President of the Consortium.

Through its National Capacity-Building Project, CVT administers grants that help other U.S.-based treatment centers build organizational infrastructure and improve the services they provide.

CVT continues to focus on building a national consensus that the United States will be a community where torture survivors are welcomed, protected and healed.