Peter Duston – Head Associate
Peter has over 35 years of experience working with adolescents
and young adults. He has been a private school history teacher, dorm parent, coach and college counselor. He was instrumental
in developing the Dublin School program for student substance assistance based on prevention/early intervention and
introduced the program to other schools, public and private. Peter has served as a community college dean, university admissions
asstant director, and senior instructor at West Point where he retired from 30 years of reserve army experience. He is active
in the 12 step recovery program and with wife, Alice, has mentored many young people in need. He established DK Associates
in 1992 with Hitomi Kawasaki to originally serve international students. In 2007, he thru-hiked the Appalachian Trail as “Talker
Man.” He speaks Russian and German.
Erika Yates – Associate
Erika has been an associate since 2002 and has housed
and mentored dozens of suspended students guiding them with her insights into adolescent maturation. Erika has mentored many
parents of these students with her skills as a parent coach. Erika earned an honors degree from University of Maine at Machias
in pre-allied health professions. She is a combat flight medic with the Army National Guard with the eventual career goal
of physician’s assistant. An avid swimmer and outdoors person, Erika is trained in back country first response and takes
suspended students on hikes and nature outings.
Jessica Naylor
Jessica is a certified substance abuse counselor with Open Door Recovery
of Ellsworth with years of experience with adolescents. She contracts with several school systems to provide a prevention/early
intervention substance use program to students across the age spectrum. She provides timely substance use evaluations
for DK clients and facilitates phone conferences between student and parent regarding substance use, addressing the critical
issue of family denial through education.
Gouldsboro Clinic and the Maine Coast Memorial Hospital in Ellsworth,
Maine provide de-tox and referral protocols for substance crises. Dr. Kerry Crowley and Dr. Charles Alexander are both
well versed in standard protocols and Dr. Alexander serves as medical advisor and support to the Open Door Recovery Center
used by DK Associates for services.
