Chaplain Dr. Victoria A. Phillips Bio
Chaplain Dr. Victoria A. Phillips - Dr. V, is a criminal justice, mental health, reentry, policy, and organizational behavior consultant. With 5 specialty certifications in neuro coaching. In addition to her being a certified reiki master, and certified crisis response chaplain and death & birth doula.
Dr. V, is a renowned and accomplished advocate for the reform of the criminal legal system, a recognized social activist for the cause of justice, a vociferous proponent of the rights of those with invisibly disabling conditions, and a seasoned practitioner in the field of medical and mental health care.
She is currently the co-chairperson of the New York City Department of Correction Young Adults Taskforce. She previously served for six years on the Adolescents, Young Adults and Adult Board for the New York City Department of Corrections.
She is a long-standing adviser to The Frailty Myth Council in California and Shalom International NY and Jamaica chapters.
She is a long-standing founding member member of the Jails Action Coalition, HALT solitary, the Fair-Chance for Housing Coalition, BEYONDrosies, the Women's Justice Taskforce, 13th Forward, Taskforce for Missing and Murdered Women and Girls of color, Treatment Not Jail, Youth Justice, Zero Profit and many others.
Her inclination towards activism, national development, and wellbeing, was manifested during the late 1990's when her ailing adoptive mother urged her to promote social awareness within the neighborhood. Through her participation in various volunteering activities and in tackling different social problems ranging from domestic violence to brutality by the police, Dr. V exposed the links between family life, education, and society.
She recently became the Director of Community, Health, and Justice Advocacy at the Women’s Community Justice Association, (WCJA). For a decade, she formerly led the Community, Health, and Justice Organizing at the Mental Health Project, a legal service agency in New York, with advocacy duties for the formerly or currently imprisoned and those with mental health concerns.
Throughout her professional career, Dr. V. has collaborated with a myriad of different demographics in a multitude of environments. Previously, she worked as a cognitive-behavioral therapist and re-entry mentor on Rikers Island and spearheaded the reform of how teenagers and young people are perceived and treated by New York City's correctional system.
Raised in a culturally balanced environment, having been brought up as an army brat, she has displayed the ability to overcome cultural disparities. In 2015, she co-founded the Deprogramming Freedom school, a direct response to increasing gun crimes, incarceration, homelessness, and the lack of educational awareness in the New York black and brown community.
She has spearheaded various civil-rights movements across the United States of America. From participating in demonstrations in New York City alongside prominent figures such as Seuko Odinga, to mobilizing mass protests and engaging in civil disobedience with renowned activists in Ferguson, she has aided in raising funds for communities that have been affected by natural calamities, police misconduct, aggressive law enforcement, and poverty.
While recuperating from her emergency brain operation in Fall of 2015, Dr. V used her journalistic, meditative, and self-reflective skills to ready herself for re-entry into the public sphere. She acknowledged her limitations, and once again became outspoken on matters of social inequity, before opening a holistic healing ministry in DUMBO.