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Resilience is a non-profit comprehensive rape crisis center committed to ending rape culture and empowering survivors of sexual assault through advocacy, education, and healing. I am reaching out today to start a dialogue with your institution. We depend on our incredible community of Volunteer Medical Advocates to reach survivors in hospitals across the city and we invite you to get involved in this community and help make a real difference for survivors!

Resilience’s Volunteer Medical Advocates are on-call to provide crisis support in emergency departments throughout Chicago. Medical Advocates are highly trained and certified to provide confidential crisis intervention and offer emotional support to survivors and their loved ones. Advocates ensure that survivors are aware of their rights and options available to them while in the ER post sexual assault. Our volunteers advocate with medical providers, law enforcement, and other community partners on behalf of the survivor, with the survivor’s consent. These volunteers can connect survivors with ongoing trauma therapy services, medical and legal advocacy through Resilience, and other community resources as needed. This is not only meaningful work, but great experience in local ERs and working with medical and social services. Resilience arranges and pays for transportation to and from all hospital calls via Uber Health. There is built in support on call and off call, so volunteers are never alone. Shifts are 6 hours and entirely in the volunteers control as far as when they pick up a shift.

We are accepting applications for Spring 2026 for anyone who is willing to provide in-person medical advocacy services to survivors at our partner hospitals throughout the city of Chicago. All prospective volunteers are required to complete a minimum of 40 hours of Sexual Assault Crisis Intervention training in accordance with Illinois law and the Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault service standards.

Training will take place from April 20th through May 14th on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:30pm-9:30pm via Zoom. All volunteer medical advocates are required to apply online, and more information about volunteering and the link to the application can be found here. If this session doesn't work for you- no worries! We will have another one with the same timeframe running in July over Summer. If you apply, you will automatically get orientation invites.

You can learn more about this on our website. BIPOC folks, LGBTQ+ folks, and Spanish-speakers of any age (over 18) are especially encouraged to apply.