ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Victoria Doobay ’06

ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT: Victoria Doobay ’06

By Colin Darling ’17, Alumni Relations Coordinator

Arriving at HTS in Grade 4, Victoria Doobay recalls feeling nervous having left an established friend group at another school behind. However, she was immediately struck by how kind everyone was. And being the self-described “empathetic kid who always wanted to cheer her friends up”, she fit right in.

As she made her way through school, she leaned heavily into the community and opportunities that her HTS education offered. The support of that community allowed her to think critically about herself within the broader world, as well as developing a questioning curiosity.

She vividly remembers the events of 9/11 and how pivotal that moment was for her family, many of whom are Muslim. For her, it represented a paradigm shift that pushed her to confront her own identity as she went off to major in psychology at McGill University.

That curiosity and innate caring nature led Victoria to continue her McGill studies in the School and Applied Child Psychology program where she took a multiculturalism class which changed her philosophy forever. “I knew that I was interested in identity and diversity work, but didn’t have the language for it,” Victoria notes. Within that class, students were tasked with keeping a journal that catalogued their awareness of their own biases and identity. Victoria remembers feeling challenged when realizing the “level of internalized racism and sexism [she] harboured towards [herself]”.

Through this process of self-reflection, Victoria found the lens through which she wanted to practice psychology. “I want to be able to identify my implicit bias, but learn how to interrupt it. And then work with populations that don’t have access to resources based on income, race or education level to be able to provide them with tools that are culturally competent,” she explains.

Post-PhD, Victoria began a placement with a high school in Chicago. Through completing case studies with students, she found many instances of misunderstood kids that weren’t being supported in their schooling. Victoria realized that without understanding the context and humanity behind the data you’re collecting, you’ll never be able to implement interventions that truly serve the populations you’re looking to help.

Victoria now works as the Senior Clinical Training Manager and a Licensed Psychologist at DePaul University’s Family and Community Services centre. She leads workshops and is passionate about making sure that all psychologists understand intersectionality, particularly with how it relates to race and trauma.

When asked what she would tell her high school self, Victoria focussed on belonging.

“In a bunch of years from now, you’ll have an understanding of who you are, you’ll have language for how you feel and you’ll be able to do something about it within the systems you work in,” she says. Moving forward, Victoria has dreams of opening a holistic community wellness centre.

Her biggest advice about raising children in this complex world is to help them build relationships with people who they can have open conversations with. “We don’t need to know everything to have those conversations,” she notes. “We can simply validate our kids, hold compassion and let them know that the world is often abstract—with many shades of grey.”