Getting a bed, step by step.

How to get in

Through a partner agency — and here is the honest reason why.

There is no address on this page and no door to walk up to. That is deliberate, and it is not about keeping people out.

Our women's houses shelter people who left someone. Publishing an address would put them at risk, so we publish none — not here, not on a sign, not in a grant application. And because we will never have one staff member meet a stranger alone, every first meeting is arranged in advance at a partner's office, with two people present.

• 1

  Start with an agency you may already know

  Mt. Carmel Veterans Service Center, the VA, the Colorado Springs Vet Center, Volunteers of America, or the El Paso County Veterans Service Office. If you are already working with a caseworker anywhere, tell them you want to be referred to Second Watch.

• 2

  Or write to us and we will do the routing

  If you do not have a caseworker, email us. We will find the right agency, make the introduction, and stay in it — you should not have to navigate five organizations to get one bed.

• 3

  We meet at their office, not at a house

  Two of us, in a private room, with time set aside. You will not be asked to tell the worst thing that ever happened to you in order to qualify. Intake happens over the first seventy-two hours, not in one sitting.

• 4

  If there is a bed and it is safe, you move in

  Same day where a bed is open and safety requires it. Nobody waits on the street overnight for a paperwork appointment.