Services

SafeHouse Denver offers a range of services in both English and Spanish for survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence.

Our culturally competent programs empower clients to build safe, independent lives without isolation and abuse. Services are offered at our Emergency Shelter, Non-residential Counseling & Advocacy Center, and Extended Stay Program.

ADA - Clients who use a wheelchair or cannot walk up the stairs have access to our ADA room

IF YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW IS EXPERIENCING DOMESTIC VIOLENCE, PLEASE CALL OUR 24-HOUR CRISIS LINE:

303-318-9989

The first step to accessing any of our services is speaking with an Advocate. We are here for you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Services are available in both English and Spanish.

Speaking to an Advocate

24-Hour Crisis & Information Line

People who call our Crisis Line have many different needs, questions, or concerns related to domestic violence.

When someone calls our Crisis Line, they speak to a SafeHouse Domestic Violence Advocate.

Survivors may call seeking counseling or shelter services, housing referrals, or immediate emotional support. The Advocate or volunteer who answers the phone can help provide the survivor with these critical resources. Most importantly, you will be heard, believed and supported.

Some callers have not experienced domestic violence themselves, but they are calling about a family member, friend, or colleague. Our Advocates can provide these callers with suggestions about basic safety and how to best support the survivor.

Non-Residential Counseling & Advocacy

SafeHouse Denver is more than a shelter. Our Non-residential Counseling & Advocacy Center serves survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence who are not in need of shelter, but who would like access to advocacy-based counseling, support groups, safety planning, and resource referrals.

We meet people where they are on their survivor journey—whether that’s staying in the relationship at this time, trying/thinking about leaving the relationship, or having left the relationship. A survivor starts their process by being connected with our intake coordinator, who completes an intake to access needs, they are then referred to an Advocate who will reach out to connect for the first session.

All services offered at our non-residential Counseling & Advocacy Center are available in both English and Spanish.

Individual Advocacy-Based Counseling

Whether you are preparing to leave an abusive relationship, are in the process of leaving, or you left years ago, our Advocates are here to help.

  • We provide advocacy-based counseling sessions that are 45–50 minutes in person or virtually, and can include emotional processing of incidents/feelings, safety planning, resource navigation, and education topics such as red flags, the cycle of violence, boundaries, etc.

    Clients interested in meeting with a domestic violence Advocate are encouraged to call the Intake Coordinator. The intake allows the survivor to meet one-on-one with an Advocate to discuss their specific situation and next steps.

    Advocates and survivors work together in sessions, pairing the survivor’s own knowledge and goals with the staff member’s knowledge of domestic violence and community resources to develop an action plan that can help them achieve their goals. During these sessions, Advocates work with survivors to establish a trusting relationship; create, modify, or adjust safety plans for survivors and their children; manage acute crises; access relevant community resources; and more.

Support Groups

Meet with a non-licensed counselor in a peer-support style setting.

  • Survivors who are accessing individual advocacy-based counseling are also offered the opportunity to join Support Groups as available. Support groups cover a range of topics that may include financial empowerment, art as a coping strategy, and co-parenting with an abuser. These groups can be an essential part of the healing process for some survivors.

    Fill out an interest form.

Community Education

Receive educational presentations and professional training on domestic violence.

Read More

Emergency Shelter

SafeHouse Denver provides safe and secure emergency housing for survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence and their children, regardless of age, gender identity, race, or socioeconomic status. We fill Shelter openings on a first-call, first-serve basis. Adults who need emergency housing must first call our Crisis Line and talk with an Advocate. The Advocate will assess their situation and, if space is available, arrange for the caller to come into the Shelter.

All Shelter services are available in both English and Spanish.

Our emergency shelter is for survivors of domestic violence and intimate partner violence. It is a communal living environment with shared bedrooms, bathrooms, and a kitchen. Some food, toiletries, and clothing are provided. Clients work with an Advocate during their 30-day stay to find long-term housing and meet any other goals they have.

Who Shelter Services Are For:

The emergency shelter at SafeHouse Denver is for survivors of domestic violence who need a safe, confidential place to stay. SafeHouse Denver is an inclusive space for all survivors and is dedicated to serving survivors and their children from all ethnic and racial backgrounds, sexual orientations, and physical and mental abilities.

What Survivors Should Expect When They Arrive:

Upon arrival, survivors are welcomed by trained staff. They receive a tour, complete intake paperwork, receive safety instructions, and receive assistance with basic needs. SafeHouse Denver is a communal living facility, which means clients may share a room with other residents, share restrooms, and be asked to participate in chores. Families will not share bedrooms with other families.

How Survivors Access the Shelter:

Survivors can call the 24-hour hotline to speak with an Advocate. Access is strictly confidential, and the location is kept private to ensure safety.

Services and Support Available:

  • Safety and Security: A safe, confidential place to stay.

  • Basic Needs: Food, clothing, and personal items.

  • Advocacy: Help with safety planning and connecting to community resources.

  • Emotional Support: Counseling, peer support, and guidance.

  • Long-term Planning: Survivors are encouraged to work with Advocates on housing and safety goals during their stay.

Extended Stay Program

All services offered at our Extended Stay Program are available in English and Spanish.

Offered exclusively to current clients, SafeHouse Denver’s Extended Stay Program is designed for survivors who are out of immediate crisis but require additional time to achieve their housing goals. The six-unit apartment building offers families privacy and independence as they work on their self-identified goals and continue to heal from the trauma of abuse.

Short-Term Housing

Our Extended Stay Program serves as a stepping stone to safe, long-term or permanent housing for survivors of domestic violence and their children.

  • This trauma-informed environment provides current clients* with safe, secure, rent-free, independent living in fully furnished two-bedroom/one-bathroom apartments. The average length of a stay is one to three months, with extensions granted on a case-by-case basis. Like our Shelter, the location of the Extended Stay Program facility is confidential to ensure the safety of residents and their children.

    *Only current Emergency Shelter residents or CAC clients are eligible to apply for this program. Extended Stay Program residents must have an income stream and a specific action plan reviewed by the Director of Shelter Services and the Extended Stay Program Case Manager. If you are a current client and you are interested in learning more about our Extended Stay Program, please speak directly with your Advocate.

Case Management

Extended Stay Program residents are able to have regular contact with an Advocate to support them in achieving their self-determined goals for stability. Services include individual advocacy-based counseling, support groups, and referrals to stability-related resources through our many community partners.

Safety Planning

Safety Planning is a personalized, practical process that helps survivors prepare for and respond to danger across all stages of their journey—before leaving, during separation, and after leaving. It focuses on reducing risk, increasing control, and supporting both physical and emotional safety in areas like home, work, and relationships.

Safety Planning may include preparing emergency items, identifying safe people and places, setting boundaries, and seeking legal or community support. Like a fire drill, safety planning emphasizes readiness for potential harm while hoping it isn’t needed. Survivors can create safety plans on their own or with a SafeHouse Denver Advocate who will ensure the approach reflects their unique needs, resources, and comfort level.

Call the Crisis Line

    • If an argument seems unavoidable, try to have it in a room or area where you have access to an exit. Try to stay away from places where weapons might be available.

    • Practice how to get out of your home safely. Identify whether doors, windows, elevator or stairwell would be best.

    • Have a packed bag ready and keep it at a relative’s or friend’s home in order to leave quickly.

    • Identify one or more neighbors you can tell about the violence and ask that they call the police if they hear a disturbance coming from your home.

    • Devise a code word to use with your children, family, friends and neighbors when you need help.

    • Decide and plan for where you will go if you have to leave home (even if you don't think you will need to).

    • Use your own instincts and judgment. If the situation is very dangerous, do whatever you think you need to do to stay safe.

    • Always remember: YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE HIT OR THREATENED!

    • Open a savings account and/or credit card in your own name to start to establish your independence. Think of other ways in which you can increase your independence.

    • Get your own post office box. You can privately receive checks and letters to begin your independence.

    • Leave money, an extra set of keys, copies of important documents, extra medicine and clothes with someone you trust so you can leave quickly.

    • Determine who would be able to let you stay with them or loan you some money.

    • Keep our Crisis Line or other hotline phone number close at hand at all times for emergency phone calls.

    • REMEMBER: LEAVING YOUR ABUSER IS THE MOST DANGEROUS TIME. Review your safety plan as often as possible in order to plan the safest way to leave.

    • Change the locks on your doors as soon as possible. Buy additional locks and safety devices to secure your windows.

    • Discuss a safety plan with your children for times when you are not with them.

    • Inform neighbors and your landlord that your partner no longer lives with you and that they should call the police if they see your partner near your home.

    • Keep your protective order on you at all times. When you change your wallet or bag, that should be the first thing that goes in it. Give a copy to a trusted friend, neighbor or family member.

    • Call the police if your partner breaks the protective order.

    • Think of alternative ways to keep safe if the police do not respond right away.

    • Inform family, friends, neighbors and your physician or health care provider that you have a protective order in effect.

    • Decide who at work you will inform of your situation. This should include office or building security. Provide a picture of your abuser if possible.

    • Inform your children's school or day-care about who has permission to pick up your children.

    • Arrange to have an answering machine, caller ID or a trusted friend or relative screen your calls if possible.

    • Devise a safety plan for when you leave work. Have someone escort you to your car, bus or train and walk with you until you are safely on your way.

    • If possible, use a variety of routes to go home. Think about what you would do if something happened while going home (i.e. in your car or on the bus).

    • If you are thinking of returning to a potentially abusive situation, discuss an alternative plan with someone you trust.

    • If you have to communicate with your partner, determine the safest way to do so.

    • Have positive thoughts about yourself and be assertive with others about your needs. Read books, articles and poems to help you feel stronger.

    • Decide who you can call to talk to freely and openly, and who will give you the support you need.

    • Plan to attend a survivors’ support group to gain help and insight from others and learn more about yourself and the relationship.

    • Decide which friend, teacher, relative or police officer you can tell.

    • Call our Crisis Line or another domestic violence hotline. They can help teens too.

    • Get information about restraining orders from your local police or court or from Project Safeguard.

    • Ask a domestic violence hotline about a teen relationship support group. It might help you feel less alone as you learn about yourself and your relationship.

Checklist

What to take when you leave.

These lists are not comprehensive, and each situation is unique. You are encouraged to call our Crisis Line to speak with an Advocate who can help you further develop a safety plan.

View The Full Packing Checklist

View The Emotional Safety Checklist

    • Driver's license

    • Children's birth certificates

    • Your birth certificate

    • Social Security card

    • Welfare identification

    • Money and/or credit cards

    • Bank books

    • Checkbook

    • Your restraining/protective order

    • Lease, rental agreement, house deed

    • Car registration and insurance papers

    • Medical records for you and your children

    • School records

    • Work permits/green cards/visa

    • Passport

    • Divorce papers

    • Custody papers

    • House and car keys

    • Medication

    • Small, sellable objects

    • Jewelry

    • Address book

    • Pictures of you, your children, your abuser

    • Children's small toys

    • Toiletries/diapers

    • Change of clothes for you and your children

I felt very wrapped in support from all the resources I’ve received and all the positivity that is swirling around me.“

- Current survivor in our services