CELEBRATING RESILIENCE

Meet LaShanda Nalls and Japhie Sarantos, Resilience's Longest Serving and Newest Staff

All year long, we’re celebrating the people who make #OurResilience possible and telling the stories of some of our biggest supporters. It seems particularly important, during these challenging times, to embrace and celebrate what connects us—our resilience. what This month we're proudly shining a spotlight on our longest serving and newest staff.

“I believe in the survivor who shares their story to give voice to other survivors, I believe in the survivor who was never believed and is struggling with self-love and understanding, and I believe in the survivor who is silent and may never tell their story, however working on healing within." —​LaShanda Nalls, Director of Trauma Therapy

"I love how much of the city and suburbs we are able to work with and I hope that we will continue to grow and thrive, offering services to survivors in all corners of our amazing city." —Japhie Sarantos, Trauma Intervention Specialist

Message from the Executive Director

"[R]each out, keep reaching out, keep bringing in
This is how we are going to live for a long time: not always,
for every gardener knows that after the digging, after the planting,
after the long season of tending and growth, the harvest comes."
—Marge Piercy, "The Seven of Pentacles"

This year it seems like we have been waiting an especially long time for spring to fulfill its promise of new life, rebirth, and revival. With the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelming us with loss of life and livelihood, removing us from so many of the familiar sights and sounds of communal life, and suspending us in a kind of waiting room, it can be hard to recognize all the ways that we are still connecting with others, helping each other, and fostering life everywhere we can.

At Resilience, we are using technology to continue to be there for survivors in all the ways we always have been through advocacy and therapy services, and we are planning for a brighter tomorrow. This is a strategic planning year for our organization, and although we have been hurt by the effects of this pandemic, we are still fiercely committed to growing to better serve survivors in Chicago. And with our truly wonderful community of supporters, staff, and volunteers continuing to offer their help and good humor, we know we are not alone.

Spring is still a special time for us to ground ourselves, connect with our communities, and return to what nourishes us. Each of us is still a part of one beautiful community of care.

I want to thank you for joining us in support of survivors during Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. I'm so excited to continue sharing our efforts to empower survivors and end sexual violence with you!

Erin Walton
Executive Director