Montréal April 11th, 2022 – The Information and Referral Center of Greater Montréal (IRCGM) is pleased to announce that Mrs. Nancy Rocha has taken over the position of Director of Specialized Services in Addiction, Gambling: Help and Referral (GHR), Drugs: Help and Referral (DHR) and the TeleCounseling (TC) Programme for Excessive Gamblers.
Mrs. Rocha holds a multi-disciplinary Bachelor’s degree in Human Sciences from Université de Montréal. She began working at the Information and Referral Center of Greater Montréal in 2003. She started out as a counselor on the provincial helplines Gambling: Help and Referral and Drugs: Help and Referral until 2013. Armed with this experience, she become a counselor for the TeleCounseling Programme for Excessive Gamblers upon its creation in 2012. She then became manager of the programme in 2019. During her time as manager, Mrs. Nancy Rocha greatly contributed to the development of the programme, to the creation of work management tools and to strengthening the skills of her team as well as their knowledge of excessive gambling.
The position of Director of Specialized Services in Addiction was, until now, held by Mrs. Hélène Hamel, who is retiring on April 14th, 2022, after twenty-three years at IRCGM.
Quotes
From Mrs. Nancy Rocha, Director of Specialized Services in Addiction, DHR, GHR and TC:
« I am very happy at being named Director of Specialized Services in Addiction. Since I began here in 2003, I am proud to see what a long way we have come in adapting and modernizing our intervention practices. I have a competent and motivated team of counselors by my side who care about the mission of supporting, informing and referring people with an addiction and their loved ones. We have a lot of projects in mind that we look forward to completing to ensure the relevance and continuity of our services. »
From Pierrette Gagné, Executive Director, Information and Referral Center of Greater Montréal:
«Nancy Rocha’s dedication and commitment to IRCGM’s mission and services make her one of the pillars of the management team. She has clearly shown that her vision for the future of the specialized addiction services will rally our current partners and will allow her to develop many other arrangements that will contribute to helping people with an addiction and their loved ones. I am certain that Nancy will meet this new challenge head on! »
About the Information and Referral Center of Greater Montréal
Since 1956, the Information and Referral Center of Greater Montréal has had the mission of helping through information. It manages and operates three services specialized in addiction: Gambling: Help and Referral, Drugs: Help and Referral as well as the TeleCounseling Programme for Excessive Gamblers. It also manages and operates 211 Greater Montréal, an information and referral service that guides people in vulnerable situations towards local socio-community resources.
About IRCGM’S specialized services in addiction
Drugs: Help and Referral provides support, information and referrals to people worried about their use, or addiction to, alcohol, drugs or medication as well as their loved ones. Created thirty years ago, this service is available 24/7, across Québec, via telephone, 1-800-265-2626 or chat at aidedrogue.ca It is free, anonymous and confidential.
Gambling: Help and Referral provides support, information and referrals to people worried about their gambling habits, or addiction to, gambling, online gambling, video games or the internet, as well as their loved ones. Created twenty-nine years ago, this service is available 24/7, across Québec via telephone, 1-800-461-0140 or chat at aidejeu.ca It is free, anonymous and confidential.
TeleCounseling Programme for Excessive Gamblers is offered for free across Québec via telephone and videoconference. It consists of several meetings and follow-ups that allow gamblers to find solutions to their gambling habits. It is the appropriate therapeutic approach for people who prefer the telephone over in- person meetings, for early intervention, for people with reduced mobility or for people reluctant to seek help within the health network (for which they may work). For information: aidejeu.ca/telecounseling/
These specialized services in addiction are financed by the ministère de la Santé et des Services Sociaux du Québec.
For information:
Lucie Kechichian
Director of Communications and Community Relations, IRCGM
438-940-5668