• 24-Hour Crisis Hotline
• Assist the victim and authorities in assessing the victim’s safety including relevant options, with the possibility of shelter
• Transportation to the shelter is provided for those victims who need it
• Walk-in crisis counseling available at our non-residential location

Making the decision to leave an abusive relationship is difficult and frightening. Esperanza’s emergency residential shelter offers refuge for victims of domestic violence. The shelter is the largest in North Central New Mexico, housing up to 42 survivors of domestic violence and their children and operates 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Shelter services include 24-hour staffing in overlapping shifts, a safe and structured environment, provision of daily living essentials, individual and group counseling (in English and Spanish), life skills education, community referrals, advocacy and case management support for victims and their children. A Transitional Housing Program is also in place to help survivors establish and maintain independence while still receiving supportive services from Esperanza.

Residential
The residential advocates and counselors collaborate with each shelter resident to determine an individualized plan for services. Comprehensive case management provided by advocates assists survivors in obtaining resources necessary to effect positive change. All residents have access to group and individual counseling with the shelter counselors.

Children who are often the overlooked victim/witnesses to domestic violence also receive individualized programming. Each child that resides at the shelter meets with the children’s therapist on an individual basis, a minimum of two times a week. They will meet with the children’s therapist together with their parent or guardian once a week. The children’s advocate has daily contact with the children, ensuring that their health, education and safety needs are being met.

Non-residential
The focus of non-residential services is on helping clients recognize the dynamics of abuse, build communication and problem solving skills, confront abusive attitudes and beliefs and define and enforce the expected behavior of a non-offending person while increasing consciousness around safety and safety planning. Counselors licensed in the state of New Mexico provide all non-residential counseling. Counseling is provided to adult victims, child victim/witnesses and offenders. Groups including; Bilingual (Spanish/English), gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender survivors and offenders, the hearing impaired and those who speak a language other than English or Spanish are also provided.

• Victims/Survivors: For victims/survivors when they leave the shelter, or those survivors who have not been residents of the shelter, Esperanza offers on-going group counseling. Sessions focus on a range of topics related to the issues survivors face, such as independent living, goal development, esteem building, safety, parenting and skill building for healthy relationships.
• Children Victim/Witnesses: Children’s services are aimed at meeting the needs of those children who have been referred by the judicial system, Children, Youth and Families Department or are voluntarily enrolled by their parents into the program. Children meet individually with the therapist and participate in art and play therapy, as a means of working through the effects of the violence on their lives.
• Offenders: Offenders of domestic violence are both court-ordered and volunteer to participate in a 52-week program designed to provide an intervention that will effect change in attitudes, beliefs and behaviors in order to create greater safety in relationships with intimate partners and children.

The On-Call Advocacy Program will provide advocates to sites where law enforcement or medical personnel have encountered a domestic violence situation. The purpose is to give support, referrals and resources to survivors of domestic violence and their children at this most critical time.

The primary responsibilities of the On-call Advocates are to advocate, support, provide crisis intervention, safety planning, and referrals to community social service organizations and follow-up advocacy to survivors of domestic violence and heir children who are contacted on scene. The Advocates will also distribute and explain resource packets approved by all participating entities, give victims’ rights information, provide free 911 Cell Phones, transport to shelter, give emergency personal items (ex: diapers, formula, etc.), assist with Crime Victim Reparation application documents, and domestic violence orders of protection.

Life skills training is one-on-one and group educational programming aimed at helping clients move closer to their individual goals. Shelter residents are offered skills-building education in the areas of: nutrition, health services, legal services, educational opportunities, parenting, financial and employment services and housing transition. Esperanza relies on many collaborative relationships with numerous health and human service agencies that assist residents in reaching their goals. Safety planning is a core component of working with survivors of domestic violence. All shelter residents work with shelter staff on issues related to maintaining safety and preparation for the possibility of further violence.

Esperanza’s court advocates help survivors of domestic violence navigate their way through the often complex and intimidating judicial system and understand what protections are available to them. The court advocate assists clients with filling out restraining orders and accompanying the client to the courthouse for hearings and other legal proceedings related to domestic violence. Advocates provide moral support to the survivor and help maintain separation of the victim and offender while in the courtroom.

Esperanza provides education to the public in an effort to raise awareness about domestic violence in our community. Educational presentations address the dynamics and effects of domestic violence and youth dating violence. Information about safety planning and how to access support services as well as how to effect positive change are core components of community education. Presentations are offered to schools, healthcare providers, service agencies, community organizations, law enforcement and the general public.

The CCRC brings together those agencies, organizations and service providers in the community who come into contact with domestic violence, to develop policies and procedures to increase victim protection and batterer accountability. The primary goal of the CCRC is to increase safety for victims of domestic violence by coordinating interventions and creating a more responsive, consistent and coordinated effort to address domestic violence in the community.

For more information visit the Santa Fe Coordinated Community Response Council