Ira Levy is the National Marketing Director for Prism Health and Sunrise Detox, known affectionately as the “Mayor of Sunrise” for his deep commitment to the communities he serves. With a career that began in 1992 as a mental health technician and admissions counselor, Ira has distinguished himself as a passionate advocate for addiction treatment.
His entry into the field was unconventional; a chance encounter with a clinical director encouraged him to pursue a path he hadn’t initially considered. Despite being a high school dropout, Ira embraced the challenge, returning to school and dedicating himself to helping others. His journey reflects not only his resilience but also his ability to connect with patients, bringing empathy and understanding to the detox environment.
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Susan Kleiner: Hello and welcome to the Think Factory Wellness podcast. My name is Susan Kleiner. I’m a partner with Outside General Counsel Solutions and I’m the host of today’s episode. I have here with me today Ira Levy. He is with Prism Health, also Sunrise Detox, the national marketing director for Prism and works with Sunrise. He has been called the mayor of Sunrise because of his commitment to the communities. He brings knowledge, village experience and wisdom to the detox environment and he’s always there when needed. He began his career in 1992 working as a mental health technician and admissions counselor. Later, he became a national marketing director and has distinguished himself as a leader in advocating for addiction treatment. So I’m so happy to have you here today.
Ira Levy: It’s, it’s a, it’s been a pleasure talking to you and getting to know you.
Susan Kleiner: And I’m so happy to welcome you to our podcast.
Ira Levy: Same here. Same here.
Susan Kleiner: So I know you have you have this great story of how it is that you got into working in the, you know, addiction and substance abuse field. So I know you’ve had kind of a non traditional past. Tell me more.
Ira Levy: Well, yeah, it wasn’t, you know, I didn’t wake, I didn’t plan this out. I was bringing a meeting to a treatment center in New York City and a clinical director said you should try to work in this field because you’re, you know, you kind of get along with patients. I watch your interaction. And I said, yeah, but I’m a high school dropout and, you know, don’t have any education. And he said, well, you can go back to school. You could take, you could go work in the field. And and I did. And in 1990, I started working at a program in New York City as a part time mental health tech 2 nights a week. And I enjoyed it.
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