Contesa Tate has extensive experience in the field of outreach, counseling and therapy and advocates for mental and social development. With years of experience in working with At Risk populations, Contesa Tate has helped individuals, families and veterans who were homeless, addicted to alcohol or other drugs, suicidal and in crisis, mentally ill, conflicts with the law, rape and abuse and more.
Contesa’s interest to provide empowerment services led to creating A Virtuous Women Ministry, a ministry she created in 2008 while earning her Baccalaureate Degrees at the University of California, Davis. The ministry has provided a safe haven where adult and young women could give testimonies, ask for spiritual guidance and reassurance.
With a growing interest in serving the community by way of mental, social and spiritual health, Contesa continued her education and earned her master’s in counseling psychology with an Emphasis on Marriage, Family Therapy in 2014. As a therapist, Contesa has provided individual and group therapy for child and family bonding with Early Childhood mental health, individual and group therapy for severely mentally ill Transitional Aged Youth with Fred Finch in Contra Costa County, individual therapy and case management for Re Entry population in Solano County through Bay Area Community Services, as well as provide mental health oversight of group therapy and individual case management for substance use clients, single adults, veterans and women and children who were eligible through the SAMHSA program.
Along with her education in secular maters, Contesa was eager to expand her education spiritually, thus earning her License as an Evangelist Missionary in the Church of God in Christ. As a licensed minister, Contesa conducted trainings and outreach in Labor and Sex trafficking, premarital and domestic counseling, and conducted Spiritual Based Mental Health services to community members, church members and clergy leaders. Contesa’s efforts were to educate and train faith leaders to understand how to effectively determine when services, offered to their congregations, should implement faith practices and/or social service linkages. This bridge between spirituality and mental health would help eliminate negligence and unethical services rendered by church leadership and ministers.
To exercise her business and nonprofit offerings, Contesa established TLC Coaching and Consulting LLC, whose purpose is to support small businesses and nonprofits build sustainable infrastructures and implement growth strategies that will improve business management, executive leadership skills building, grant writing, fundraising, marketing, and strategic planning.
Currently, Contesa serves as a Director of the Angelo Quinto Community Response Team (AQCRT), where she has created, staffed, and trained a 24/7 community response team that responds to low-level, non-life-threatening 911 calls. In collaboration with the City of Antioch, the Antioch Police Department, and local community-based organizations, our trained staff provide community members with mental health support, service linkage, and lifesaving skills.
Contesa takes pride in her family, including her husband of 14 years and enjoys homeschooling her beautiful daughter and handsome son!