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Welcome to the Office of Victim Assistance

We provide free and confidential support, consultation, advocacy and short-term trauma counseling to all CU Boulder students, graduate students, staff and faculty who have experienced or witnessed a traumatic, disturbing or life-disrupting event.

Welcome to the Office of Victim Assistance (OVA)

Traumatic events happen every day in all communities and CU's community is not exempt. The impact of this can vary from person to person. OVA strives to mitigate the impact of traumatic experiences by increasing access and awareness to empower the people we serve in making informed decision.  We do this by providing free and confidential trauma-focused services.

OVA is not the office that investigates or adjudicates cases.

Accessing OVA services

If you have questions about OVA services, please call 303-492-8855 or email assist@colorado.edu

  • If you would like to meet with a confidential OVA Advocate Counselor:
    1. 1. Call 303-492-8855 during our business hours (Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm) to schedule an in-person or telehealth appointment, for those in Colorado.
    2. 2. Due to staffing changes drop-in hours are currenlty on hold, please call first. Plan to bring back at end of Sept. 2023.
    • Note:If feeling sick please stay home and call so we can reschedule and/or convert appointment to telehealth
  • If it is after-hours, nights and weekend and campus holidays, 24/7 support information available here.
  • For more details on confidentiality please visit the About OVA's page, confidentiality section

OVA acknowledges and condemns the racially-motivated shooting and murders perpetuated in the name of White supremacist ideology that took place outside of Edward Waters University, a historically black college in Jacksonville, FL.  On the heels of this tragedy we also acknowledge the campus shooting that took place at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill earlier this week.

Our hearts go out to both of these communities, and we understand that the impact of these events can affect those within our own campus community. It is normal to experience a range of emotions following traumatic and disturbing incidents, including fear, numbness, hopelessness, racial trauma, anxiety and depression, among others.

If you would like to talk through these events or find support, we encourage you to connect with our office or explore other resources for navigating traumatic events and supporting others who may be impacted. 

Experiences that OVA can help with (OVA topic areas):

  • Experiences of bias: if someone is harassed in relation to their identity/protected class.  Involves behavior, speech, or expression that is motivated by bias based on perceived race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, sex, gender identity, gender expression, disability, age, sexual orientation, political affiliation/philosophy, veteran status, pregnancy status, and has a negative impact. This includes protected class harassment and hate crimes.
  • Death: specifically related to mass violene, homicide, disaster, accidents, and/or a crime.
  • Disasters and Mass Violence: natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, floods, fires and  humanly or mechanically generated violence such as mass shootings, active harmers, explosions-events that have mass impact.
  • Discrimination: conduct that deprives an individual of a benefit of employment or educational opportunity on the basis of identity.
  • Harassment: unwanted contact, can be on-going or a one time incident, not based on identity/protected class.
  • Sexual harassment: unwelcome sexual attention.  Can interfer with working and/or learning enviornments.
  • Hazing: any activity expected of someone joining a group (or to maintain full status in a group) that humiliates, degrades or risks emotional and/or physical harm regardless of the person's willingness to participate.
  • Familial Abuse: abuse by a family member(s), can include, emotional, psychological, financial, physical, and sexual abuse.
  • Intimate partner abuse: a pattern of one person inflicting emotional and/or physical pain/abuse on another in order to control their present or former partner. Abuse can take many forms; emotional, psychological, financial, physical, reproductive, and sexual
  • Menacing: specific threats that suggest causing harm/injury; threats suggesting danger.
  • Physical assault: a physical attack.
  • Predatory Drugging: someone uses a substance to maliciously subdue another person, render them incapacitated.
  • Robbery and Burglary: theft through physial force or fear and unlawful entry into a home/business wtih intent to commit crime.
  • Serious accidents related to a crime: accidents that are incapacitating and seriously disrupt one's ability to function in the academic environment and have some type of police or criminal response.
  • Sexual assault: unwanted, non-consensual, sexual contact.
  • Stalking: a pattern of unwanted behavior directed at a specific person that would cause a person to feel fear and/or change every day routines.
  • OVA helps with other potentially traumatic or disruptive events as well. OVA is not here to lable someone or their experience. Call OVA for more information.

About Our Name

One does not need to identify with the word victim to use OVA services. OVA recognizes that the word victim can hold a stigma and some may not feel comfortable using or identifying with the word. Some people we work with identify with the word victim, some identify with the term survivor, and some do not identify with either. OVA will not label your experience and we will use the words that you feel most comfortable using to identify your experience.

OVA Inclusion Statement

The Office of Victim Assistance values diversity, equity, social justice, and inclusion. We support students, faculty and staff from diverse backgrounds. The Office of Victim Assistance shall maintain and promote a policy of nondiscrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, gender, pregnancy, age, disability, creed, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, political affiliation/philosophy, or veteran status. We acknowledge that culturally relevant trauma services is an ongoing process of learning that begins by looking within ourselves and honoring basic human rights. As individuals and as an agency, we are committed to responding effectively to social-cultural diversity.

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