OUR SERVICES

24-HOUR CRISIS LINES

Toll Free
800-775-6055

Local
760-328-SAFE(7233)

AN OVERVIEW OF OUR SERVICES

Shelter From The Storm is the Coachella Valley’s only shelter-based provider of emergency and adjunctive services to victims of the scourge that is domestic violence. We offer some of the more comprehensive programs dedicated to abused women and children. Shelter From The Storm offers, in-house, all the core programs needed by families as they begin to create safe and healthy lives:

  • Emergency Crisis Domestic Violence Shelter
  • Community Counseling Center
  • Outreach Intervention Advocacy Assistance at the Family Justice Center – Indio
  • Speakers Bureau and Professional Training
  • Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Education

In addition we provide: Individual & Group Counseling for Women, Individual & Group Counseling for Children, Case Management, Advocacy, and links to key community resources.

EMERGENCY CRISIS DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SHELTER

Shelter From The Storm, Inc. (SFTS) fields more than 3,200 calls on our 24-hour Crisis Lines each year, which in turn brings many families to our emergency crisis domestic violence shelter. They come around the clock, 365 days a year, often fleeing for their lives.

Due to the severity of the abuse they had endured at the hand of an intimate partner, almost 10% of these families are referred to SFTS by law enforcement and/or local hospitals. 

Two thirds of all of our emergency shelter clients are innocent children ranging in age from infancy to late teens, 70% of whom have also been abused.

Our emergence shelter provides safety, counseling, case management, and legal and social service advocacy for more than 150 women and children each year. On an annual basis, we provide more than 2,000 nights of emergency shelter. We also serve more than 3,000 meals to our clients each year.

COMMUNITY COUNSELING CENTER

Shelter From The Storm first opened it’s Community Counseling Center in March of 2000. 

Available to the entire Coachella Valley, the Center provides professional, individual and group counseling, case management, advocacy and crisis intervention services to abused women and children who have completed an emergency shelter stay or to community members who are not currently in need of emergency shelter.

All are suffering from the aftermath of physical, emotional and other forms of abuse at the hands of an intimate partner.

The Community Counseling Center in Palm Desert serves over 300 adults and child victims annually and also houses Shelter From The Storm’s Administrative offices.  

OUTREACH SERVICES

Serving more than 1,500 women and children annually, Shelter From The Storm’s Outreach Staff exist to provide community-based bilingual Crisis Intervention services throughout the Coachella Valley.

In partnership with the District Attorney’s office, Outreach Staff work out of the Family Justice Center in Indio. They offer a variety of services including assistance with Restraining Orders,referrals and advocacy to the emergency shelter and counseling center, victim advocacy and educational information classes for the community.

Most importantly, they offer a comforting and understanding neighborhood place where abused women and children may begin their journey to safe and healthy lives.

SPEAKERS BUREAU AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

We know community awareness and resolve will help to end violence against women and children. Educating the community about the impact of domestic violence is a high priority for Shelter From The Storm.

We provide valuable consultation to clinical professionals in the Coachella Valley. In addition, through speaking to many organizations in the course of a year, we are able to teach the medical, legal, law enforcement, and the lay communities about domestic violence.

If your organization would like to schedule a speaker, or a consultation on domestic violence, please call (760) 674-0400 or use our email contact form.

TEEN DATING VIOLENCE PREVENTION AND EDUCATION

Teen dating violence is a nationwide epidemic. As part of our commitment to prevent future generations from becoming trapped in the “cycle of violence,” Shelter From The Storm has developed a program that brings interactive workshops to high schools throughout the Coachella Valley. Students learn to recognize the signs of abuse and are taught ways in which to safely end violent relationships. Of the many hundreds who have attended our workshops, fully one-third have reported experiencing at least one incident of dating violence.

The Teen Dating Violence Prevention program is offered to schools at no cost and is facilitated by specially trained SFTS staff. We believe we must be proactive if we want to help future generations maintain violence-free relationships.

Teen dating violence is on the rise. Studies show that one in three high school students has experienced at least one incident of physical abuse by a partner. These frightening statistics tell us that education designed to prevent teen dating violence is vitally important.

Dating violence is similar to adult domestic violence in that they both occur in cycles. The relationship starts out wonderfully. The abuser is charming and loving. As the relationship progresses, the abuser becomes increasingly controlling and critical and begins to break down the partner’s self-esteem. Since teen-agers typically struggle with identity and self-esteem, this is not difficult to accomplish. This emotionally abusive behavior is typically coupled with physical acts of aggression. Teen victims are pulled into the cycle of violence because after every violent incident the abuser charms his way back into their good graces by promising that the violence will never happen again.

Additionally, because teens tend to pull away from family in order to declare their independence they may stay in an abusive relationship out of fear of being alone and unloved.

Control of the victim is also exercised through acts of extreme jealousy and possessiveness. Sadly, jealousy is seen as a sign of love by many teens. No alarms go off when a partner wants to know their whereabouts at all times, isolates them from family and friends and bestows gifts like a pager or cell phone. Teens do not have the foresight to see this as manipulative and controlling behavior and are frightened and confused with few places to turn for help.

If you believe that a teenager is being abused, we offer counseling at our Community Counseling Center. For further information, call (760) 674-0400.