Denver's Tennyson Center for Children has a long history of supporting traumatized children across Colorado. Now, in the center's 120th anniversary year, it may be more needed than ever.

"We're seeing kids now with more severe trauma symptoms than ever before, the acuity of their mental health and behavioral health challenges are much more significant," Tennyson Center President and CEO Mindy Watrous said.

But the Tennyson Center is making a difference, she said. Last year, 68% of kids in the center's programs showed a "significant reduction" in their trauma-related symptoms.

"My mental health before Tennyson was very rocky," former patient Taz Dowd said. "... It was scary and just unsettling and kind of humiliating at some points."

The now 23-year-old was first connected with the Tennyson Center through a residential program when she was a teenager. She said she needed to get acclimated back to real life after being on a mental health hold in a medical facility.

"Before, it was hopeless. I didn't feel like my life was going to go anywhere, that I was going to end up in facilities or jail for the rest of my life," Dowd said. "But when Tennyson came in and helped (my family), that's when the work of trying to become the person I am now, with the relationships I have now, started."

Denver's Tennyson Center for Children, a recipient of a Denver Post Season To Share grant, offers in-house and at-home therapeutic and educational services to more than 3,000 children who are survivors of severe abuse, neglect and trauma each year across 12 counties.

"I think the atmosphere is one of such compassion and positivity," Watrous said. "Our staff is dealing with kids that have significant mental health and behavioral challenges, many of whom have experienced a lot of complex trauma. ... It's challenging, but the people here are so positive and come back every single day to make a difference and to care about the kids that we serve."

The center's community-based programs let professionals bring care -- including individual and group therapy, earlier behavioral intervention services and substance abuse support -- directly to families' homes, Watrous said. Tennyson Center also offers on-site school day programs and long-term residential services.

"Kids get referred to our day treatment program and school because their home school can't manage their behaviors and challenges in the district anymore," Watrous said. "They receive their education, but they also receive individual group and family therapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy, whatever that child needs to succeed."

Watrous said five children currently live in the center's relatively new residential program, which can serve 16 kids at full capacity and opened in September 2023. The current residential program is different than the one Dowd attended as a teenager and is for kids who "cannot live in a family-type situation."

After her time in Tennyson's residential program, mentors and therapists continued to work with the family at home and take Dowd out on supervised excursions.

"I learned how to come into myself," Dowd said. "They guided me and helped me become a person where I can control myself but also feel heard and not judged."

Dowd said the casual tone of the outings -- grabbing coffee, going to the mall and venting -- gave her a chance to sort through her emotions and regroup without the need for a traditional therapy appointment. While the structure of therapy is important, Dowd said, having younger mentors who helped her approach the issue in a different way was invaluable.

The Tennyson Center relies on community support and fundraising for more than a third of its $15 million annual budget, according to Watrous.

"Community support is absolutely integral to what we do," Watrous said. "We are lucky to have people that are very committed to Tennyson and the kids and the families that we serve, but we are absolutely reliant on the community."