TESSA and other organizations calling attention to teen dating violence awareness month
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (KRDO) -- February is Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month, and TESSA of Colorado Springs and other organizations like Kingdom Builders Family Life Center, Colorado Springs are making an effort to inform the community through social media of the dangers.
According to "Love is Respect", nearly 1.5 million high school students nationwide experience physical abuse from dating a partner in a single year. The abuse can come in many forms from physical to mental, or even emotional abuse.
Megan McHugh, Youth and Children’s Program Manager at TESSA of Colorado Springs, said though they don't have the exact numbers, the center is seeing a high lethality of cases across the board with boys, girls, and the LGBTIQ community.
"Our numbers did decrease due to the pandemic of how many youth and teens we typically see in a year, however, the severity of those we did see increased as far as the difference in tactics the abusers were using on the victims, such as isolation, emotional abuse, gaslighting, more specifically," said McHugh.
TESSA has been very active on social media, reaching out to teens about the signs and severity of teen dating abuse.
Each week during the month of February they will dedicate a week to a word that defines a healthy relationship. This week is 'Respect week.'
A list of resources are found below:
TESSA of Colorado Springs is an organization and shelter, helping domestic violence victims.
Kingdom Builders Family Life Center is another local organization helping domestic violence victims, click on the link to reach out.
Love is Respect hotline: Call 1.866.331.9474 or Text: LOVEIS to 22522
