Deaf Addiction Services at Maryland

DASAM Staff Information Page

Click a name to contact via e-mail.

Laurie Yaffe, MA, LCADC
Program Director
Laurie founded the DASAM program at University of Maryland in October 2000. Laurie has a MA degree in Psychology and is a licensed clinical therapist. She is licensed by the Maryland State Board of Professional Counselors and Therapists. Laurie has been a Board Member of Maryland School for the Deaf since 2001. She was a former Board Member of Maryland Association of the Deaf. Laurie is a member of Governor O’Malley’s Transition Team for Disabil ties and a member of the Maryland Mental Health Transformation Grant. Laurie is on the Mental Health Advisory Committee for the Office of Deaf and Hard of Hearing.
410-837-3313 (v)

Doris Clements, BS, CAC-AD, ACRPS, CCDC
On-Site Addictions Counselor
Doris has worked in the field of Addictions among the Deaf Community since 1991. She was in the first graduation class of the Interpreter Training Program at CCC in 1990.

Doris earned her Bachelor of Science in Addiction Studies from Graceland College in Iowa in 1998. She holds certifications of Advanced Certified Relapse Prevention Specialist and CCDC, and has her state CAC-AD license. Doris has been with the DASAM program since it began in 2000.
410-706-1163 (v/tty)

Laura Dreany-Pyles, BSW, CAC-AD.
On-Site Addictions Counselor
Laura has been an addictions counselor since 1990. She started at Family Service Foundation, and has worked at Deaf- REACH in Washington, DC. Laura is deaf and fluent in American Sign Language. She graduated in 1999 with a Bachelors in Social Work from the University of Maryland Baltimore County. Laura joined the DASAM team in March of 2003.
410-706-0417 (tty)

Michael Kafes, NAD III
Interpreter Coordinator
Michael has been in the field of Sign Language Interpreting for the past six years and has worked within the Deaf community for over nine years. He graduated in 1998 from Catonsville Community College, the state's only Interpreter Training Program, with a degree in Sign Language Interpretation. Michael has been with DASAM since its beginning in November 2000. Prior to that, he was Staff Interpreter at Family Service Foundation for 2 years.

Michael not only serves to coordinate interpreting needs for DASAM patients and staff, but also functions as an advocate for patients and staff regarding accessibility issues both on and off the University of Maryland campus.
410-837-3313 (v)

Rochelle Wright-Barfield
Staff Interpreter
Rochelle Wright-Barfield is the Staff Interpreter for Deaf Addiction Services At Maryland (DASAM). She is a CODA (Child Of Deaf Adults). Rochelle has been using sign language all of her life, but has been professionally interpreting since 1991. Rochelle started working for DASAM in January 2001.

Rochelle is currently attending Towson University, in the Deaf Studies program.
410-706-1161 (v)

This page was last updated on: April 16, 2008.