T E S S A
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Mission Statement
TESSA is a local non-profit that provides services to individuals experiencing domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking, and human trafficking in El Paso and Teller counties. For the past 44 years, TESSA has been committed to the mission of ending family violence while empowering individuals and their families towards safety, stability, and self-sufficiency. TESSA has evolved into a multifaceted organization centered around trauma-informed care.
About This Cause
TESSA offers confidential support and services for victims of Domestic Violence (IPV) or Sexual Assault (DVSA) or Human Trafficking and their children. 24-hour crisis line 719.633.3819: TESSA staff provides help in crisis situations, works with victims to create safety plans, and connects victims with other community services. Safehouse: TESSA’s Safehouse provides emergency shelter, food, case management, counseling, and support to female survivors and their children. The Safehouse Program can provide short-term safe shelter vouchers for local hotels to male victims and their children. Safehouse residents have access to many support services including Confidential Advocacy, Counseling (adults & children), court support, and assistance with multiple local resources to: Securing Permanent Safe Housing, Finding Employment, Accessing Childcare, Locating Adult Educational Options, Obtaining New Identities Victim Advocacy: The TESSA team helps victims navigate the criminal justice system, provides legal assistance, and connects victims with community resources. Services include: Identify Options, Develop Safety Plans, Receive Assistance with Temporary Protection Orders (TPOs), Acquire Information and Referrals *Hospital Call-Outs: Confidential Victim Advocates provide 24/7 hospital response to victims seeking medical attention due to an incidence of DVSA *DHS Liaisons: Two of TESSA’s Confidential Victim Advocates are co-located in the El Paso County Department of Human Services’ TANF (Temporary Aid to Needy Families) Division. These advocates work with TANF clients who identify domestic violence as an issue or barrier to achieving self-sufficiency. Children’s Program: Children’s Program Therapists and Advocates work with children who have witnessed DVSA in the home. Services are for children residing in TESSA’s Safehouse and children from the community-at-large and include: Individual Counseling, Psycho-Educational/Age-Appropriate Support Groups, Child-Specific Advocacy, Recreational Opportunities, Case Management Counseling Program: Staff therapists provide therapeutic services to adult DVSA victims. These include: Individual Psycho-Therapy, Psycho-Educational Support Groups for DV Survivors, Therapeutic Support Groups for DVSA Survivors, These services encourage participants to work on self-esteem, provide education about healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, and assist in goal setting and problem solving. Rural Program: To better serve victims of DVSA in rural areas, TESSA has a full-time Confidential Victim Advocate based in Cripple Creek (serving Teller County), and one based in Calhan (serving Eastern El Paso County). Adult Counseling services are also available by appointment at these locations. Advocacy is available on a walk-in basis. Community Outreach: TESSA Speakers are available to any group interested in a presentation about issues related to DVSA. Specific topics include: Safe Dating, Building Healthy Relationships, DV 101, SA 101, Bystander Intervention, TESSA Programs and Services, and Customized Presentations for per Group Needs. TESSA works throughout the Pikes Peak region – with schools, businesses, community associations, judicial system partners, and faith-based organizations – to change the community conversation around DVSA, fuel social change in the forms of bystander intervention and collective intolerance, and highlight the reality that these are community-wide problems that deserve community-wide solutions. Project LIFT: TESSA’s Project LIFT provides attorneys to represent TESSA clients who are in need of a permanent protection order (PPO). This service is free to TESSA clients. Once a client becomes a part of Project LIFT, the assigned attorney will meet with the client, and then represent that client at their PPO hearing. If someone needs help securing a temporary protection order first, TESSA’s Victim Advocates can assist with that process (see: Victim Advocacy). If you have questions about Project LIFT, please send them to speck@tessacs.org. Housing First: TESSA Advocates work to help victims secure housing, specifically in situations where victims and their children are at risk for homelessness. Services include: Case management, Direct financial assistance for securing housing, In-home case management to improve likelihood of client success. TESSA’s Safehouse provides emergency shelter, but it is only a temporary solution. Housing First allows TESSA to establish long-term solutions for victims who need permanent housing, and allows for more victims to be placed in TESSA’s Safehouse each year.