Resilience
Yazmin Garcia is a dedicated professional currently serving as a Bilingual Legal and Medical Advocate for the Sexual Assault Multi-Disciplinary Team at Resilience since January 2022. In this role, Yazmin collaborates with various agencies to provide crisis intervention, legal and medical advocacy, and emotional support to survivors of sexual assault and their families. Prior to this position, Yazmin volunteered as a Medical Advocate at Northwestern Medicine Central DuPage Hospital from November 2020 to July 2023 and held leadership responsibilities as a Team Lead at Roosevelt University, where teachings and procedures were developed for new and current team members. Yazmin's experience also includes working as a Cashier at Panera Bread. Academically, Yazmin holds a degree in Criminal Justice and Psychology from Roosevelt University and has a background in cosmetology from Empire Beauty School-Hanover Park.
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.