Victoria Levine Joins Lifeline's Expanding Services!

Lifeline welcomes Victoria Levine, MA, Addiction Service Coordinator and Counselor

With 14 years of experience in the public sector, Victoria joins Lifeline’s team as their Addiction Service Coordinator. In addition to supervising our Counsellors, she will continue working directly with people in her role as an Addiction Counsellor. Montreal’s English community is extremely lucky to be benefitting from her professional background, empathy, and wisdom!

After graduating with a Masters in counselling psychology at Yeshiva University in New York City and getting licensed as a mental health counsellor, Victoria worked in a methadone clinic in the Bronx and an outpatient treatment center in Harlem before moving back to Montreal and taking a position with the provincial government at a residential treatment center.

She discovered Chabad Lifeline while researching treatment for a client who needed specialized help with sex addiction, and was impressed with the work they did.

While on maternity leave, Covid hit. When Victoria returned to work, she noticed addiction treatment at the residential level was becoming more medically focused with shorter stays, making her position more administrative and less clinical. She had remembered Rabbi B and reached out to see if Lifeline offered a better fit for her skill set. As Rabbi B said, “We were lucky to find someone so qualified who also has such natural empathy for others! When people talk with Victoria, they sense a calm wisdom that’s very reassuring.”

What struck her as unique about Lifeline was its range of services. No other centre covers the complete scope of addiction, with trained counsellors ready to help with all forms of substance abuse, gambling, and sex. Accessibility to services and quality of care are also of extreme importance to Victoria, stating: “Getting someone into the right level of care quickly can make a big difference to our clients”.

Victoria was especially impressed by Lifeline’s focus on the family as a whole. Addiction not only affects the person with addiction, but takes a heavy toll on the partner, the parents, and, most importantly, the children, who often take on responsibilities way beyond their years. Being able to offer specialized counselling for all family members was an important factor in her decision to join Lifeline.

She looks forward to helping her community, knowing the damage addiction can do to families. Her experience allows her to understand that helping means meeting people where they are, at whatever speed they’re comfortable being helped. As she said, “Change isn’t linear. Our Counsellors understand it can be a rollercoaster at times and we want people to know that they do not have to go through this alone”.