Elizabeth Cruz

Senior Advisor and CCH Care Coordinator for Gender Responsive Services, The Women’s Justice Institute (WJI)

Liz Cruz has worked in leadership positions throughout the field of mental health and substance use for more than one decade. This work recently led her to an appointment as the Lead Strategic Advisor to the Health & Well-being Working Group of the historic Statewide Women’s Justice Task Force of Illinois, a project of the Women’s Justice Institute (WJI), which united directly impacted women and over 100 other women leaders behind building a plan to reduce the women’s prison population by at least 50%. Since the appointment to the WJI, Liz has taken on a special role as Senior Advisor for the WJI and is currently working as a Care Coordinator for the Cook County Health/SAMHSA Women’s Reentry Initiative. Liz also provides support to partner agencies in relation to civic engagement, training and assistance of gender responsive/trauma informed policies/practices and providing quality improvement/assurance on several grants with the WJI.

Elizabeth earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology with a concentration in Criminal Justice from Argosy University in 2014, and her Master’s Degree in 2016 in Forensic Psychology. Liz desired to continue to educate, so much so that she was hired as an Adjunct Faculty and has been an instructor for over five years.

Liz continues her journey as a clinical professional, educator and advocate to provide guidance and support to women impacted by the legal system as well as students seeking to continue their educational journey, as she knows all too well the journey of both.