Cattaraugus County

Laura Elliott-Engel, MA, CASAC-G, LMHC, has been Executive Director Cattaraugus Council on Alcoholism and Substance Abuse, Inc. in Olean, NY since 2002. Prior to that she was Executive Director at the Livingston Council in Geneseo, NY.  Laura's first work in the field was with women, casefinding and counseling in two rural counties.  She moved into management in 1991.  Her breadth of experience includes prevention, education, and counseling in both outpatient and inpatient settings. Laura is active in public policy  through Finger Lakes Consortium and CANYS and is currently a board member and secretary/treasurer for CANYS. She is a founding board member of FOR-NY and currently serves as Secretary of that board. Laura is the proud mother of Amaris and Jeremy and has been in sustained recovery since 1975.

New York City

An early pioneer and former Senior Vice President/Chief Operating Officer of Daytop Village, Charles Devlin has over 40 years experience in the field of substance abuse treatment. Daytop, created in 1963, is an innovative force in the development of the therapeutic community concept. It is the oldest and one of the largest therapeutic community programs in the United States, encompassing 26 centers throughout the states of New York, New Jersey and California. Mr. Devlin retired from Daytop in 2006.

Mr. Devlin served as President of Therapeutic Communities of America from 1994 to 1998, President of the Therapeutic Communities Association of New York from 1999 to 2003, and President of the New York State Association of Substance Abuse Programs as well as President of the Kiwanis Club of New York City. Mr. Devlin is also a founding member of the Institute for Professional Development in the Addictions (IPDA) and continues to serve on the Board. 

Internationally, he was the Deputy President of the World Federation of Therapeutic Communities, an organization he was instrumental in founding, representing over 60 nations. Mr. Devlin chaired the International Organizing Committee, which had the responsibility of organizing twenty-three worldwide conferences that promoted the networking of substance abuse professionals from government and non-governmental agencies.

Mr. Devlin has received special citations from the World Federation of Therapeutic Communities, the Kiwanis Club of New York City and UNICEF.  In his previous hometown of Ardsley, New York, he was appointed by the Mayor to serve as Chairman of the Youth Council for the community. Mr. Devlin has the distinction of being named “Drug Fighter of the Year” in 1988 by the New York State Association of Substance Abuse Providers. In 2006 he received the Governor’s Lifetime Service Award in the field of alcohol and substance abuse.  He also received the 2006 Humanitarian of the Year Award from the Learning for Life division of the Boy Scouts of America.

Mr. Devlin has been married for thirty-nine years and is the father of two sons.

Capital District

Keith is the Executive Director at the Addictions Care Center of Albany, Inc (ACCA).  In addition to a strong prevention program, ACCA provides a wide spectrum of treatment and recovery services beginning at its Chemical Dependency Crisis Center continuing through the agencies transitional housing programs.  Prior to his appointment at the ACCA Keith served as the Director of Development and Grassroots Advocacy at the NYS Association of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Providers, Inc. for three years.  During an early career in agri-business, followed by a tenure in state government, addiction took control of Keith’s life. Keith’s new career and the quality of life enjoyed with his family are the direct result of recovery.  Keith’s membership in FOR-NY affords him the opportunity to share and advocate the message of recovery.

Albany County

Chacku Mathew Mathai is an Indian-American, born in Kuwait, and lives in East Greenbush, NY with his wife, Julie and his daughter Shobha. He currently serves as the Deputy Director for the New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services. 

Chacku and his family began the recovery process from both mental health and substance use conditions when he was very young. Chacku came to terms with his drug addiction and mental health issues after attempting suicide at the age of 15 in December, 1985. His recovery journey began on December 7, 1985 when he made the decision to turn away from the use of drugs, find healthier ways to cope with his mental health problems and join a recovery movement and community in Rochester, NY called Students of Brighton Encourage Recovery.

His pathways to recovery continue to include 12-step peer support groups, activism in the recovery/social justice movement, reuniting with family, spending time with his wife and daughter, meditation, snowboarding, soccer, X-Box, giving back to the community and intermittent psychiatric counseling. Chacku’s personal experiences as a consumer of mental health and addiction services in New York launched Chacku and his family towards a number of efforts to advocate for improved services and alternative supports in the community.

Chacku also has over 20 years of experience volunteering and working in mental health and community based services in a wide variety of roles including peer advocate, peer support meeting facilitator, self-help educator, community organizer and educator, community residence manager, psychiatric rehabilitation practitioner, trainer and program administrator.

Jefferson County

Sullivan County

Izetta Briggs-Bolling, M.S, M.BA, LMHC, CASAC-G

Izetta Briggs-Bolling has been working in the addictions field for over 15 years. During her career in the addictions field, Izetta has worked in the public and private sectors, in for-profit and non-profit organizations; state operated, hospital based and community-based programs. Izetta is currently the Chief Executive Officer of the Recovery Center and oversees the development and maintenance of a comprehensive array of addiction, prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery support services.

In 1998, Izetta Bolling earned a Master’s in Organizational Leadership. Izetta began her career in the field in 1993, and she was employed as a counselor at St. Clare’s hospital in New York City while earning a bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science. In 1995, she began working for Correctional Services Corporation, where she provided substance abuse and vocational counseling for inmates participating in work-release from state prison, and later became the Asst. Facility Director. Izetta moved to Middletown NY in 1999 and began working with Pius XII as a counselor and ultimately became the Clinic Director. She obtained a Master’s degree in Business Administration and her CASAC in 2003, and she accepted the position of Community Residence Director during this same year. Two years later, in 2005, she became the Clinical Director of Outpatient Services and was promoted to Chief Clinical Officer in 2007. Izetta is in the process of obtaining a Master’s degree in Social Work.

Otsego County

BETTY CURRIER, BA, CASAC, CPP
Betty is a consultant to the Council on Addictions of New York State (CANYS), the News York state affiliate of theNational Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence. She assists CANYS with its historical mission of advocacy and provides expertise in connecting with the recovery community. She worked for twenty years as the founder and director of LEAF, inc., the Council on Alcoholism and Addictions in Otsego County, NY. Prior to her years with LEAF, she was spent as a secondary English teacher for twenty years. Betty is a Credentialed Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Counselor and a Credentialed Prevention Professional.

An experienced trainer, Betty has worked with the New York State Office of Alcoholism and Addictions (OASAS), the NYS Department of Health, Faces & Voices of Recovery and other organizations to develop and deliver trainings for the recovery community and health and addiction professionals. Since retiring from LEAF in 2004, her dedicates time to training and other activities that build the capacity of the addiction recovery community. She is a Master Trainer for the Recovery Coach Academy and Train the Trainers, developed by the Connecticut Community for Addiction Recovery (CCAR).

Betty’s passion for the needs of individuals and their families afflicted with or affected by addictions began with her own recovery in January 1976. “After more than 20 years of fear, hopelessness, loneliness and chaos,” she says,” my recovery has given me peace, hope, love and purpose, in short, a life beyond my wildest dreams. My four children have found their own pathways to recovery, and their children, my six grandchildren, are addiction free. I believe the cycle has been broken in my family. My commitment and life purpose is to demonstrate the reality of recovery for those affected by addictions and to help change public perceptions of addiction. I’m proud to be a face and voice of recovery.”

Betty was a founding member of Friends of Recovery of Delaware and Otsego Counties, Inc., a recovery community organization in rural upstate New York that operates The Turning Point, a recovery community center. She is retired from the founding board of Faces & Voices of Recovery, and remains involved in committee work. She is a founding board member of Friends of Recovery New York and received the nationally recognized America Honors Recovery aware from the Johnson Institute in 2008.

New York City

Howard Josepher is founder and President of Exponents, a non-profit, community based recovery organization in New York City helping people with drug addiction and other chronic health conditions.  Howard has been a long-term advocate and leader in changing the drug laws in New York and giving voice and expanding the role of recovering individuals on all levels of treatment, policy and law making forums. He overcame his own addiction to heroin many years ago and is a New York State Licensed Clinical Social Worker.

Delaware County

David is a member of Friends of Recovery of Delaware and Otsego Counties,Inc. and the Council on Addictions of New York State. He is currently employed as Executive Director of the Alcohol and Drug Abuse Council of Delaware County, Inc and is a New York State certified alcohol and substance abuse counselor. He lives in Unadilla, New York, with a wonderful wife, two children and various cats. He has been a person in long-term recovery from alcohol and other drugs since August 18, 1981.

Having experienced the joys of my own recovery and the sorrows of losing two family members to the disease of addiction, I am committed to helping with two urgent  missions: advocating for those who still suffer from the stigma of addiction and helping to support the growth of recovery centers in the communities of New York State.

Ulster County