Victor holds an MA in Organizational Leadership from Gonzaga University with a minor in Servant Leader, a BHS in Human Services, AAS in Substance Abuse and Addiction and is a licensed LSAT in Arizona. Among his greatest accomplishments is victory over drug addiction for now more than 36 years. He credits the loving support of thousands of people in recovery who helped hime in his time of need and at a time when he thought recovery impossible.

Meet Victor Lee

The founder of Getting Beyond Barriers in April of 2010, Victor, is dedicated to the wellness of every person he comes in contact. He began this work to be a platform for inspiring health, wholeness and change for individuals struggling with substance abuse and addiction. As he looked through the lens of his personal reovery from addiction, now almost 4 decades, he recognized the need for personal development. He took a page from a 12 Step Program, "We must abstain in order to recover" and recognized that being sober or clean was not going to be enough. He has since learned that much of the expereince of addiction comes from for many a past of undealt with pain which has led many to low self-esteem and worth. In his work today he uses a personal development approach to assistng individuals to embrace and unlock what is on the inside as a menas of freeing themselves to unleash a future of possibitity.

One of his favorite quotes is "Love me when I don't deserve it, because that is when I need it the most." He also believes we must learn to love ourselves more fully and that healing is the only route to getting there.

WHAT YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ADDICTION

2022


THE VIDEO TRAILER BELOW "THE ANONYMOUS PEOPLE" IS PROOF YOUR LOVED ONE'S CAN AND DO RECOVER.

Victor Lee having been sober for more than 36 years and understands the constraints of not only getting sober, but in maintaining sobriety. His experiences both in active addiction and his journey to recovery are nothing short of a miracle. Amazingly to meet him most cannot imagine or believe that who he is today began with an addiction to drugs, homelessness, despair and a lot of pain. The passion with which he assists others is contagious. Addiction is a family disease and he has committed to educating families of loved ones who have found themselves some in a hopeless state just as he and millions all over the world. He masterfully shapes what was his guilt, fear and shame into powerful teachings which illuminate the power we hold to change, and when necessary, change again, and again. His family program "What You Don't Know About Addiction" is a conduit for helping to bridge the gap between what we think we know and what we don't know that we don,t know, and we don't know it. He is proof that not only is recovery possible but it can be seen empowering millions of clean addicts and alcoholics now thriving and make a difference everywhere. This training will leave you touched, moved and inspired in ways you cannot even imagine.

WHO WOULD BENEFIT FROM THIS TRAINING

FAMILIES OF ADDICTED LOVED ONES

PROFESSIONAL CONTINUING EDUCATION

HUMAN RESORUCE PROFESSIONALS

PROBATION/PAROLE

PEACE OFFICERS

STUDENTS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSE/ADDICTION

EDUCATORS/TEACHERS

CASE WORKERS

EAP PROFESSIONALS


WHEN HELP SOMETIMES HURTS

If having everything given to us on a silver platter was the answer we would all simply purchase the platter. The truth is when we are at our lowest not much value can be found is anything except the thing which we need to let go. Being enabled by a family member while addicted can last until either the enabled or the relationship is destroyed, Most of use have or had sadly gotten to the point where we placed the use of drugs and alcohol ahead of everything and that includes you. Intentional or not that is only part of the problem. If your loved one needed heart surgery would you strap them to a bed and perform the procedure? Of course you wouldn't, and yet with limited knowledge and understanding you have convinced yourself that you can fix them. Unfortunately you cannot. You can however learn how to more effectively support them with hurting yourself or them and putting them at further risk. In order to do so you must be willing to let go of what is not working and allow yourself to be changed which is the very thing you want for your loved one. If nothing changes no one does.



WHY WON'T THEY CHANGE?

Why won't they change is a loaded question which is only supported by one's view of what is and is not changing. Every addict has some things in common, however, their experience of themselves and how they process their past will always be uniquely their own. Further, only they know what has happened to them in their lives and they may not yet be ready to share. A better question would be, what blocks change? besides, drugs and alcohol are really not the problem. The problem is something which they are trying to solve through the use of substances. Treatment and therapy can assist in breaking the bonds of destructive ways of dealing with trauma, mental health issues, and even emotional pain which are all to familiar in addiction.

WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Addiction is a family disease and affects all communities. What that means is just as the addicts addiction has an impact on the family, so too does the family response impact one's recovery. Victor Lee recognized that just saying it is a family disease is not enough. We have found that to be ineffective. Without giving you more information along with some new tools for helping you will continue to be in the dark. The addiction will not ever go away however, it can be arrested which allows them to recover. By assisting in helping those you love it begins to over time rebuild trust in fractured relationships. If you are wiling to learn what you don't know, that you don't know, it will broaden your view which will allow shifts in your expectations giving them time to grow at their own pace.


THE IMPACT OF COVID 19 ON ADDICTION

According to Dr. Nora Volkow November 2020, Although deaths from opioids continue to command the public’s attention, an alarming increase in deaths involving the stimulant drugs methamphetamine and cocaine are a stark illustration that we no longer face just an opioid crisis. We face a complex and ever-evolving addiction and overdose crisis characterized by shifting use and availability of different substances and use of multiple drugs (and drug classes) together.


LOSING HOPE

We all have felt a time or two, some sense of loss of hope. It is in that level of despair that often nothing moves. Resignation and cynicism then become a team with designs on taking you out. Not to kill you but leave you in a space where you embrace the worst thing every. Some have stated in these times "This is the way I am and nothing is going to change." This level of loss of any chance of redemption is the worst place any can find themselves. In a sentence it gives the robber of our preferred future a key to now take whatever is left. Once this happens the one who is suffering accepts the suffering as their just do. Nothing is more pervasive than when one finds them self no longer willing to help him or herself.


WILL THEY EVER BE NORMAL?

I as many millions have diabetes, No one has ever criticized my affliction. Yet, there are those who judge me for having the disease of addiction. I did not ask for diabetes or addiction and neither did your loved one. For the record, I am normal and so are you with all of our faults, afflictions, mistakes shortcomings, and whatever your medical or mental struggle. The only way to begin looking at people as human is to first look yourself. People have come to these sessions simply to learn how fix their addicted loved one. They come with a sense of purity and wholeness that for some, does not permit them to even be honest with themselves. As a helper I have to be tolerant of those I am helping. Having a sense of being faultless and pure is a huge part of the helpers curse. Unfortunately, no matter what your loved one's do to change, it will never match your expectations.


Please contact us. We want to work with you and your organization in making a difference in the lives of the many individuals and families who are still suffering. Each of us needs all of us, and all of us needs each of us.

(888) 280-0581

victor@gettingbeyondbarriers.org

The goal of any good help when it comes to substance abuse is for the helper to learn how to help without enabling continued behavior, and continuing to hurt ourselves. As addicts until we begin to embrace doing for ourselves what only we can, we won't change. When you cannot stop doing it for us, we both become helpless.

Victor Lee Founder

ARE YOU CURIOUS?

Contact: Victor Lee

(888) 280-0581

victor@gettingbeyondbarriers.org

Bring him in to speak with your group. He is funny, witty, inspired, knowlegeable,

educated, down to earth, and excited about what recovery makes available.

"No one else is coming and if things are going to change it is up to us!"