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A graduate of Curtis High School and<br />
Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids,<br />
Mich., she holds a doctoral degree and is<br />
a credentialed alcohol and substance<br />
abuse counselor (CASAC) and an<br />
international certified alcohol and drug<br />
counselor (ICADC).<br />
She is also an ordained deacon, serving<br />
with her husband, Tracy, at Mount Sinai<br />
United Christian Church in Tompkinsville.<br />
Known affectionately around the building<br />
as "Dr. C," Phyllis Cureton has been a<br />
Staten Islander since the age of 10 and<br />
lives in Mariners Harbor, not too far from<br />
the facility she runs.<br />
<br />
Dr. Cureton explained to Emmanuel R.<br />
Wheagar, CEO of the 2nd Chance Women of<br />
Distinction <strong>Magazine</strong> the magnitude of work and<br />
the direct involvement of President Barrack<br />
Obama as she shares teleconference notes with<br />
him. “He is very involved”, she stressed.<br />
.4<br />
<br />
Dr. Phyllis Cureton<br />
There have been 75 drug<br />
overdose deaths on Staten Island<br />
this year alone according to<br />
District Attorney Michael E.<br />
McMahon's office; that’s 7 more<br />
overdose deaths than was<br />
reported in all of 2015.<br />
Dr. Cureton is in the full front of<br />
this battle as she handles daily<br />
intakes at Samaritan Daytop<br />
Village, the drug and alcohol<br />
treatment facility in Mariners<br />
Harbor, Staten Island, New York.<br />
“The staff works with about 100<br />
clients at a time, but the door is<br />
always open for more”, she<br />
stressed.<br />
<br />
Dr. Cureton gave our staff a tour<br />
of her “State of the Arts” facility<br />
that encompasses several<br />
functional rooms and recreational<br />
center designed to provide<br />
maximum support and treatment.<br />
We were introduced to her team<br />
which includes a Medical Doctor,<br />
Psychologists, Social Workers,<br />
licensed Drug Counselors, and<br />
interns.<br />
Heroin and opioid addicts; as<br />
young as 12 and old as 76 have<br />
sat across from Cureton, a<br />
witness every day to Staten<br />
Island's raging drug epidemic.<br />
Strengthened by a recent merger<br />
with the Samaritan Village<br />
network, today's Daytop is<br />
attacking the epidemic head-on.<br />
In addition to drug and alcohol<br />
treatment, the center offers<br />
programs in anger management,<br />
parenting,<br />
vocational<br />
assessment, relapse prevention,<br />
relapse recovery, cognitive<br />
behavioral therapy as well as<br />
dialectical behavior therapy which<br />
address borderline personality<br />
disorder. The organization runs<br />
more than 50 programs in the<br />
New York City area serving<br />
veterans, families, the homeless,<br />
the elderly and those struggling<br />
with addiction. 4