Social Impact Heroes: Why & How Eric Oakes of Banyan Treatment Centers Is Helping To Change Our World
Value is not a monetary measure. Bottom lines and margins are how you answer to accountants. The quality of your product and the effort you put into doing the right thing is how you answer to your stakeholders. Everyone wants to make a living, but no one I work with is willing to do it at the expense of our mission, which is to help others.
As part of my series about “individuals and organizations making an important social impact”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Eric Oakes, Executive Vice President and COO of Banyan Treatment Centers.
Eric Oakes has been in the helping professions for most of the past 35 years, and has served those battling addictions, mental illness, homelessness, developmental disabilities and family issues. Mr. Oakes is the operational leader of Banyan Treatment Centers, which serves individuals with addictions, mental health issues and eating disorders at 14 locations across six states.
Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! Can you tell us a story about what brought you to this specific career path?
Mine is a story of coming full circle. When I was 18 I wanted to go into business, and enrolled in the business program at the University of Hartford. One day, as I spoke to my parents about my career choice, and the accompanying hopes and dreams of being a business mogul, my father interrupted my soliloquy with this really stern response. He said my story that I was writing for myself neglected the service of others. He told me in no uncertain terms that a life of self -centered pursuit would be a lonely one. I didn’t really think too much about that until a few semesters into college. I found that I was drawn more toward psychology electives than anything else I was studying. I ended up switching majors and graduating with a major in psychology and a minor in marketing. Eventually, I was able to combine service with my original goals, and go back into the business dimension to help design and run sucessful programs that were profitable and sustainable.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company or organization?
I can’t think of one interesting story, as there have been so many. I do remember one time, perhaps five or six years ago, when I was on the phone late at night with a gentleman who directed one of our programs. I was speaking to him about an emergency involving a client in treatment, the police, one of the worlds most famous celebrities and a local casino. I suddenly asked my colleague, “if someone told you when you were a kid that someday you would be having this conversation in the middle of the night, would you have believed it?” We still laugh about that moment. It has been an interesting career, and Banyan has been bold and courageous in many ways. Therefore, I have found myself in the company of some of the most influential people in country, and some who have perhaps the smallest voices as well. I am constantly thinking that you couldn’t make this stuff up if you tried.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
If you mean by first starting mistakes I made in my youth, then it would probably be when I substituted for a friend as a valet parking attendant before I knew how to drive. But if you are asking me about my current company, I would say that my mistakes have been plentiful, but I wouldn’t say they were funny! I say that because any big mistake would undoubtedly negatively impact others, and those lead to regret or sadness rather than humor. I do think that most of the fun I have is when my colleagues make fun of me for getting super excited about, or passionate about, ideas that are unrealistic or just plain bad. In hindsight my staff like to point out all of the times where I was a bull in a china shop, because while I try to be kind and sensitive, I can be socially awkward and not always aware that I am stepping on toes, at least not as hard as I am.
Can you describe how you or your organization is making a significant social impact?
My organization helps thousands of people every year with the development of skills and resources to make meaningful change in their lives. We have detoxification and residential treatment centers around the country to help individuals remove substances of abuse from their systems and begin again without them. We have mental health centers and an eating disorder program to teach new skills and attitudes as well. Our company has a substantial campaign on line to help educate the public and destigmatize addiction. We have partnered with some public figures who have their own recovery histories to help share that message.
Our business is a life and death business. Many, many of us in this company have seen more than our share of friends and colleagues die. The flip side is that we are in position to see first-hand the difference we can make. We have invested in training for our staff to make them uniquely qualified to respond to the needs of our veteran and first responder citizens, as well as to individuals who are looking for diverse definitions of improved well-being and happiness. We have invested in telehealth and aftercare outreach in order to be able to reach folks previously unreachable. We have partnered with other providers in a unique healthcare setting in Delaware, where we serve individuals in the same complex as a nursing home and a daycare center, and have had people start to try to replicate that idea. Our staff are encouraged to participate in the communities they serve, and we are involved in things as varied as sponsoring a free bicycle program for people in recovery to advocacy on Capitol Hill.
At the end of the day, we continue to measure our success primarily on the micro level, with individuals and families at the center of it all.
Can you tell us a story about a particular individual who was impacted or helped by your cause?
I have the story of a woman who was a client of our treatment center a few years before I arrived, when the program was just starting out. When I came on board, this client had just been hired as an entry level support staff. Seven years, lots of mentoring and training later, this woman is in graduate school at one of the most prestigious universities in America, is a junior executive in our company, and in charge of large chunks of operations and resources. I have a friend who is a radiologist in Ohio, who is a husband and a father of two, twelve years after having been in my treatment center, a college drop-out with no goals other than to get off probation. I have a ton of stories like those.
Are there three things the community/society/politicians can do to help you address the root of the problem you are trying to solve?
We need leaders to take a logical approach to the issues plaguing our delivery system. Statistically speaking, virtually everyone of us is intimately acquainted by blood or friendship with someone who is addicted to drugs, is afflicted by mental illness or both. Yet our public discourse is always about this outlying group of people that we are afraid is overtaking some segment of society. The NIMBY response fixes the stigma in place. If we had the courage to look at this as a collection of individuals, we would understand what the founders of AA understood years ago, that no one is immune, and marginalization is as big a contributor to the problem as any drug out there.
We need to stop throwing good money after bad, in the name of science. Over and over again, in response to the “opioid crisis”, or in response to “suicide epidemics”, the Congress allocates funds, which end up in grants, to address “evidence-based interventions”. The problem is, the money perpetuates many of the problems in the cycle. Without going on a rant, the issue becomes there are so many strings attached to the funds that the value is greatly diminished, and the original intent is never realized. Not a new story, but it is no mystery to me that we find ourselves losing the war on overdoses despite years of people waiting on long lines at methadone clinics. If we are going to spend money, allow the recipients to create real value. An unintended consequence of the government funding in our system is that it has likely driven down the viability of the helping professions. Similar to the problems we have in our country with finding enough teachers, it is hard to attract good folks to the field when a masters degree gets you low wages and long hours.
I think our communities need to open up more to collaboration. Years ago we started having our clients volunteer at a local church feeding the homeless. It was hard to find a place that wanted our help. We need more people being more open. The community needs to do a better job of helping itself.
How do you define “Leadership”? Can you explain what you mean or give an example?
I have two main tenants of Leadership. The first is that a true leader needs to know when to lead, when to follow, and when to get out of the way. The pandemic has created a microcosmic example of this. The early response to the pandemic took a great deal of leadership. It required a lot of communication with staff, alleviating fear, giving direction, and providing a company posture or stance. It also required you to follow. As a leader, it was important to watch others to see how they were navigating the obstacles and also to understand the ever-changing landscape of regulation. And finally, the pandemic has also created a great deal of need to stay the course despite prevailing winds. As things began to shift so rapidly, there have been countless occasions where the impulse was to play or fold, when holding the cards was the better move. Real leadership sometimes puts you in a position where many might begin to question you, and its uncomfortable. Sometimes not reacting seems like not leading, when it is just the opposite.
The second tenant of leadership is knowing when to lead, when to direct, and when to manage. Sometimes as a leader you simply just say “Follow me, I know the way”. Sometimes a leader needs to direct, and give tasks for each subordinate to follow to accomplish a goal. And sometimes, a leader needs to manage, and that means doing the first two, but also rolling up your sleeves and doing some of it yourself. The key is knowing which problems require which approaches.
What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started” and why. Please share a story or example for each.
- Sometimes you are going to feel like the only one who plays by the rules. Your competitors will seem like they are playing dirty, sometimes. But they probably think the same about you.
- Sports analogies are the best ones. Chemistry is always best in a winning locker room. You have to create a culture of winning. Sometimes you have to let your QB throw deep or your leadoff hitter swing for the fences, just to keep their confidence in you and themselves at peak.
- Transparency is best, but its scary. It’s a constant battle in your head. How much do your employees need to understand in order to do their jobs, and to feel invested. They don’t trust you if you evade their gaze. They can usually handle more of the truth than you think.
- You can never work hard enough, until you’ve worked too hard. No one is going to tell you to take a break and relax. My kids can all recall stories of me on the phone or me at the computer on virtually every vacation we have ever had. But they also know that its part of the job. Ultimately, something gives, and you regulate yourself, because no one is going to do it for you.
- Value is not a monetary measure. Bottom lines and margins are how you answer to accountants. The quality of your product and the effort you put into doing the right thing is how you answer to your stakeholders. Everyone wants to make a living, but no one I work with is willing to do it at the expense of our mission, which is to help others.
You are a person of enormous influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
My friend and I are writing a book together right now. My friend is a Christian chaplain, and the book is about our different ways of looking at the same clinical problems, his from a Biblical perspective, mine from the perspective of behavioral health. The book may not be particularly profound, but we have chosen to try to use our experience to connect it all to the human experience. The biggest point we are trying to make in the book is that the content is secondary to the fact that we don’t agree on much of anything, yet we are friends, we can discuss things, and we respect another perspective. It’s a return to civility and decency that is lacking in discourse. I am not deluded into thinking that we are moving any mountains, but the way I see it we only have two choices. We need to start respecting each other and listening to each other, or we will continue to have prevailing majorities make decisions that cancel each other out. I believe if we are not growing, we are dying, and I believe our society is stuck, and cannot grow, because we are in our corners. I am not starting a movement, but I hope that I am participating in a movement that returns us to civility. In my opinion we have spent so much time in the past few years trying to destroy those who disagree with us we have failed to advance our own agendas.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
There are many versions out there of this quote, so I am not sure who deserves credit, but essentially I Iike this. “Do the right thing. Do the right thing right. The right thing will happen”. This simple statement sounds a lot scarier than it is, because I think most people equate the concept with the biggest of crossroads or impossible dilemmas. But I have applied it, and asked others around me to apply it, to every day. Just make a decision. Do what seems like the best thing given the information you have, and then give it your best shot. This gives you the best chance at an optimal outcome.
Most of my time is spent on trying to decide what the next right thing to do is. Then, I have surrounded myself with very smart and talented people who take that thing and run with it, doing it to the very best of their ability, making sure whatever “it” is it is done with accuracy, conviction, and passion. Then, when the “it” is evaluated, we can together decide the value, because we are confident that we gave it our best shot.
Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would like to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this, especially if we tag them. 🙂
I think if I could have an informal conversation with someone it might be one of the Murdoch family of Fox Corp. I think it’s an arrogant concept that I might have something to tell anyone of influence something that they haven’t heard before, but I would love to have access to some of his/their reach. On a different side of the coin I would love to sit down with the US Surgeon General to better understand health policy in this country.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Banyan Treatment Centers are on most social media outlets.
This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!
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