As Syria reaches what appears to be the end of the Asaad regime, a Minnesota-based organization is making sure refugees are still on a healing journey.

Millions of refugees and asylum seekers have fled to different countries, including the United States.

“The war and the conflict and the disputes, and as well as the protest, they were unbearable,” said Syrian refugee Mohammad Hashim Shaamya in Arabic.

With the help of an interpreter, Shaamya painted a picture of the past describing life in Syria before he fled to Jordan in 2014.

“As a result of the murdering, the arresting, and all of the violence that took place then,” Shaamya said.

Shaamya said under the Assad Regime, Syrians were treated like a herd of cattle ruled by a gang.

After over a decade of civil war, Bashar Assad is no longer ruling Syria, giving refugees some relief after years of trying to heal.

“I used to isolate myself to avoid any social environment,” Shaamya said.

But through a Minnesota-based organization, he found hope.

“Our mission is to instill hope in people who’ve had experiences where the purpose of torture is to really destroy hope,” Jill Davidson, a clinician with the Center for Victims of Torture, said. “Something that we really focus on is to build community, to offer spaces where survivors can gather together, that they can be with other people who understand their experience, make connections and learn how to trust again.”

The Center for Victims of Torture helps refugees from around the world rebuild their lives through rehabilitative care.

The organization has a team on the ground in Jordan.

Clinicians explained while their clients are healing, the effects of their traumas are still present.

“They also have so much uncertainty about what it really will be like when they go back. If they want to go back, do they want to go back? Is it safe in Syria?” Davidson said. “Yes, there’s a sense of hope and relief, but it’s complicated.

Shaamya explained the organization encouraged him to get out of isolation and socialize with people who were experiencing the same situations.

Amid the uncertainty, he said there’s hope that his home country could start to feel like home.

“Once the Asaad regime falls definitely, I’m going to be reconsidering going back to the Syrian territory,” Shaamya said. “The People [Syrians] are going to have more friendly manner and more hope for the future.”