Programs and services

TESSA staff provides help in crisis situations, works with victims to create safety plans, and connects victims with other community services.

TESSA’s Safehouse provides emergency shelter, food, case management, counseling, and support to female survivors 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:

The TESSA team helps victims navigate the criminal justice system, provides legal assistance, and connects victims with community resources.

*Hospital Call-Outs | 719.633.3819:
Confidential Victim Advocates provide 24/7 hospital response to victims seeking medical attention due to an incidence of DVSA

Rural |Teller County 719.243.5508 | Eastern El Paso County 719.243.4833
Confidential Victim Advocates in Teller County and Eastern El Paso County.

Staff therapists provide therapeutic services to adult DVSA victims. These include:

These services encourage participants to work on self-esteem, provide education about healthy vs. unhealthy relationships, and assist in goal setting and problem solving.

NOW ACCEPTING MEDICAID

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:

TESSA Advocates work to help victims secure housing, specifically in situations where victims and their children are at risk for homelessness. Services include:

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.

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. Criteria to participate in Project LIFT includes:

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).

TESSA provides legal advice and representation to college students who have experienced sexual violence in connection to their school enrollment. Legal services on a variety of matters including civil protection orders, Title IX and school misconduct claims, civil rights complaints, requests for reasonable accommodations, victims rights education and support in criminal prosecutions.

TESSA has no school affiliation. The initial criteria to participate in TESSA’s Higher Education/Title IX legal program includes:
• Must be a victim of sexual assault, sexual harassment or other sexual or gender based misconduct
• Offense must pertain to a student victim, perpetrator, or have occurred at or be otherwise connected with a local college or university

TESSA’s Military and Veteran legal program provides TESSA clients with 100% confidential free legal advice and limited representation in federal, state, and VA matters.

TESSA has no military affiliation. The criteria to participate in TESSA’s Military and Veteran legal program includes:
• Must be a victim of an act or attempted act of non-intimate partner sexual assault. For example, “stranger rape,” “date-rape,” “acquaintance rape,” “quid pro quo,” and other types of sexual assault committed by someone not considered an intimate partner.
• The act or attempted act of non-intimate partner sexual assault must have a connection to the military. For example, assaults that occur on military installation; assaults committed against a military member , cadet, or their dependents; and assaults committed by military members, cadets, or their dependents.

TESSA clients wanting to explore these their options, including these legal programs, should visit TESSA’s main office and meet with a confidential advocate or call our 24/7 confidential safe line at 719-633-3819.

All services are 100% confidential and at no cost to clients.

Please contact our Community Engagement Manager at 719-785-6813 for all media inquires.

TESSA Speakers are available to any group interested in a presentation about issues related to DVSA. Specific topics include:

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.

Please contact our Development Department for all in-kind (hygiene, toys, etc.) and monetary donation questions at 719-785-6817

Please contact our Volunteer Coordinator for anything related to our Confidential Victim Advocacy Training, Volunteering, or Group Volunteer opportunities.