Resilience
Mandie W. is an experienced medical advocate and crisis counselor with a diverse background in providing emotional support and advocacy for vulnerable populations. Currently serving as a Medical Advocate for Rape Victim Advocates since October 2016, Mandie has also been involved with the National Runaway Safeline and Samaritans Inc. in various supportive roles since 2016 and 2010, respectively. In addition to on-call crisis intervention, Mandie has experience in health coaching and patent law, having served as a Health Coach at Brigham and Women's Hospital and a Patent Paralegal at O&R Patent Law. Mandie holds an M.D. from Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine and a Bachelor's degree in Political Science with minors in Law, Policy & Society and Psychology from Northeastern University.
Resilience
Resilience (formerly RVA) is an Illinois not-for-profit organization made up of many individuals with two primary goals: to assure that survivors of sexual assault are treated with dignity and compassion; and to affect changes in the way the legal system, medical institutions and society as a whole respond to survivors. Resilience focuses on both social service and social change. Through our presence in Chicago area emergency rooms, we provide nonjudgmental emotional support to victims of sexual violence, enabling them to become survivors. By providing basic legal and medical information, and referrals to other service organizations, we help the survivor make informed decisions. We also offer survivors continued support through telephone follow-up and our staff of counselors and legal advocates. Through these services, we enable survivors to regain control over their lives as quickly as possible. Through our work with the Chicago Police Department, the Cook County State's Attorney's Office and other area institutions, we strive to improve the treatment of survivors as a group in our society. Resilience offers three distinct program areas: Counseling (individual and group), Advocacy (legal and medical) and Education & Training.