April 19, 2023 • 6 mins
Roy Leitstein has served as Chief Executive Officer of Legacy Treatment Services since itsinception. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology and a Master’s degree in Human Services. Roybegan his career in social services while serving in the United States Army and volunteering for theExceptional Family Member Program. Roy was named Executive Director at The Children’s Home where after nine years, he co-facilitated a merger between The Children’s Home and The Drenk Center and assumed the role of Legacy Treatment Services’ CEO. In 2017 Roy helped orchestrate an affiliation agreement with Community Treatment Solutions bringing both organizations together to further Legacy’s continuum of care.Under Roy’s leadership Legacy established a new affiliation with Woods Services of Bucks County, PA. Woods and Legacy are creating a dynamic population health management organization that relies on our combined expertise to provide the highest quality care continuum that meets complex health, behavioral, social and educational needs.Legacy Treatment Services is a nonprofit behavioral health organization serving 20,000 individuals annually and operates over 70 programs across New Jersey. Services include prevention programs, outpatient therapy and psychiatric services, substance abuse, crisis intervention, therapeutic foster care, residential programs, case management, services for adults and children with developmental disabilities, and a special education school. Roy is married to his wife Aimee and they have two children - Noah and Molly.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
I'm Lorraine Ballad marl with CEOs youshould know, brought to you by Comcast
Business. My name is Roy Leightstein. I'm the CEO and president of Legacy
Treatment Services. Describe your company andits mission. The Legacy Treatment Services mission
is to change the behavioral, healthand social service outcomes for people of all
ages, from surviving to thrive.Legacy Treatment Services provides an array of more
(00:24):
than seventy different programs and services tohelp individuals that have challenges with regard to
mental health, addiction treatment, orperhaps to have an intellectual developmental disability.
This is definitely a passion for you, and I wonder if you can tell
us why it is so important toyou to be involved in this particular field.
Of course, thanks so much forasking the question, Lorraine, I
(00:47):
have to tell you in my experience, individuals in this field often have a
calling, and so when I wasgrowing up, I was the victim of
abuse and neglect. I had abiological mother that was abusive and she had
a multitude of diagnoses as I wasgrowing up, and unfortunately, my father
(01:07):
was a barely functioning addict. Atthe age of ten, I came home.
My parents were going through divorce,and at the age of ten,
when I came home, my motherhad kicked me out of the house.
I have a twin brother, andall of our stuff was in garbage bags
on a front porch, and sowe kind of knew how to get to
where my dad lived in an apartmentcomplex, and so we walked, right,
(01:29):
We walked from where we lived towhere my father lived, trying to
figure out which apartment. It wasobviously a traumatic, traumatic event, and
I always described when I talked tofolks that that's sort of the moment that
my childhood, the version of mychildhood that I thought kind of ended in
that moment in time, and sothat was really the catalyst for me.
(01:52):
I had joined the Army out ofhigh school. I was a little bit
of a behavioral issue. I can'timagine why in high school, right,
and so I've always managed to getgood grades and joined the army because I'd
gotten into college. I was acceptedinto college, but I had no way
to pay for it. So Ijoined the army and served in the United
(02:12):
States Army Infantry and really proud aboutthat, and started my career in social
services, volunteering for something called theExceptional family Member program, and during that
time volunteering, I became very closewith the young man that I was working
with, a small child who wasnonverbal, had a brain dysfunction, and
his parents, who came from reallyhumble means, gave me a cross pen.
(02:35):
I always keep a cross pen inmy office now to remind me where
I came from. So I hadthis sort of aha moment at that time
that said, you know, ifI could help kids that maybe we're struggling
or had any challenges like I had, based I wanted to commit my career
towards towards helping that. And thatwas Oh, I'm yeah, that was
probably twenty nine years ago. SometimesI think it might have just been safer
(02:59):
if I continued to get shot atfor the six weeks and trained in the
infantry instead of volunteering and going intobehavioral healthcare. But then I wouldn't get
to interview with you learn Well,it sounds like you get a lot of
satisfaction in what you do, andI wonder if you can talk about any
philanthropic causes that your organization or yourselfare involved in. Legacy is a large
(03:23):
scale nonprofit organization, but we weren'talways right. So I've been CEO here
for eighteen years, and we wentfrom a very small organization helping about one
hundred and fifty kids a year toowe'll serve more than twenty thousand people this
year. And what I noticed alongthe way was that it was very difficult
for the nonprofit. Not everybody speaksnonprofit or understands how nonprofits work, and
(03:47):
so I wanted to create an environmentwhere when Legacy was doing well, we
supported other nonprofit organizations along the way, and so just recently we sponsored Resolve,
which is a fertility organization that helpsindividuals who are struggling with fertility.
(04:08):
You'll also note that HBCU has awalk for Historic Black Colleges and Universities where
they do some fundraising. You'll seeLegacy support that along the way. We
really try to be humble and don'tparticularly like to advertise our support of the
efforts, but if there's an opportunityfor Legacy to help the community around it,
(04:30):
we absolutely take advantage of it.I always have a fun bonus question,
So this is the bonus question.What advice would you give to yourself
at age fifteen? The advice thatI would give myself at age fifteen is
perspective. I believe that one ofthe most challenging aspects of maturing, of
evolving, whether that's me now atforty seven or certainly when I was fifteen,
(04:55):
is understanding that the sun comes up, the sun goes down, and
when we're in those moments right ofstressing about your grades, your social relationship,
I just wish I could look backto me at fifteen and say,
it really is going to be okay. This is just today, and you
can have a significant impact on whattomorrow is going to look like. I
(05:16):
love that if people want more informationabout Legacy Treatment services, where did they
go. I'm so glad that youasked that question, Lorraine, because if
we can help folks, that's whatwe want to do, and so we
invite folks to just head to ourwebsite www dot Legacy treatment dot org.
There's a twenty four seven helpline thereand you can reach somebody at any time
(05:38):
of the day or night. Thanksso much. This episode is brought to
you by Comcast Business. Whatever yourday brings, will help you handle it
with reliable gig speeds and advanced cybersecuritysolutions. Every day in business is a
big Deck. Comcast Business will keepyou ready for what's next. Comcast Business
Powering possibilities Restrictions apply. Actual speedvarry call for details
I'm Lorraine Ballad marl with CEOs youshould know, brought to you by Comcast
Business. My name is Roy Leightstein. I'm the CEO and president of Legacy
Treatment Services. Describe your company andits mission. The Legacy Treatment Services mission
is to change the behavioral, healthand social service outcomes for people of all
ages, from surviving to thrive.Legacy Treatment Services provides an array of more
(00:24):
than seventy different programs and services tohelp individuals that have challenges with regard to
mental health, addiction treatment, orperhaps to have an intellectual developmental disability.
This is definitely a passion for you, and I wonder if you can tell
us why it is so important toyou to be involved in this particular field.
Of course, thanks so much forasking the question, Lorraine, I
(00:47):
have to tell you in my experience, individuals in this field often have a
calling, and so when I wasgrowing up, I was the victim of
abuse and neglect. I had abiological mother that was abusive and she had
a multitude of diagnoses as I wasgrowing up, and unfortunately, my father
(01:07):
was a barely functioning addict. Atthe age of ten, I came home.
My parents were going through divorce,and at the age of ten,
when I came home, my motherhad kicked me out of the house.
I have a twin brother, andall of our stuff was in garbage bags
on a front porch, and sowe kind of knew how to get to
where my dad lived in an apartmentcomplex, and so we walked, right,
(01:29):
We walked from where we lived towhere my father lived, trying to
figure out which apartment. It wasobviously a traumatic, traumatic event, and
I always described when I talked tofolks that that's sort of the moment that
my childhood, the version of mychildhood that I thought kind of ended in
that moment in time, and sothat was really the catalyst for me.
(01:52):
I had joined the Army out ofhigh school. I was a little bit
of a behavioral issue. I can'timagine why in high school, right,
and so I've always managed to getgood grades and joined the army because I'd
gotten into college. I was acceptedinto college, but I had no way
to pay for it. So Ijoined the army and served in the United
(02:12):
States Army Infantry and really proud aboutthat, and started my career in social
services, volunteering for something called theExceptional family Member program, and during that
time volunteering, I became very closewith the young man that I was working
with, a small child who wasnonverbal, had a brain dysfunction, and
his parents, who came from reallyhumble means, gave me a cross pen.
(02:35):
I always keep a cross pen inmy office now to remind me where
I came from. So I hadthis sort of aha moment at that time
that said, you know, ifI could help kids that maybe we're struggling
or had any challenges like I had, based I wanted to commit my career
towards towards helping that. And thatwas Oh, I'm yeah, that was
probably twenty nine years ago. SometimesI think it might have just been safer
(02:59):
if I continued to get shot atfor the six weeks and trained in the
infantry instead of volunteering and going intobehavioral healthcare. But then I wouldn't get
to interview with you learn Well,it sounds like you get a lot of
satisfaction in what you do, andI wonder if you can talk about any
philanthropic causes that your organization or yourselfare involved in. Legacy is a large
(03:23):
scale nonprofit organization, but we weren'talways right. So I've been CEO here
for eighteen years, and we wentfrom a very small organization helping about one
hundred and fifty kids a year toowe'll serve more than twenty thousand people this
year. And what I noticed alongthe way was that it was very difficult
for the nonprofit. Not everybody speaksnonprofit or understands how nonprofits work, and
(03:47):
so I wanted to create an environmentwhere when Legacy was doing well, we
supported other nonprofit organizations along the way, and so just recently we sponsored Resolve,
which is a fertility organization that helpsindividuals who are struggling with fertility.
(04:08):
You'll also note that HBCU has awalk for Historic Black Colleges and Universities where
they do some fundraising. You'll seeLegacy support that along the way. We
really try to be humble and don'tparticularly like to advertise our support of the
efforts, but if there's an opportunityfor Legacy to help the community around it,
(04:30):
we absolutely take advantage of it.I always have a fun bonus question,
So this is the bonus question.What advice would you give to yourself
at age fifteen? The advice thatI would give myself at age fifteen is
perspective. I believe that one ofthe most challenging aspects of maturing, of
evolving, whether that's me now atforty seven or certainly when I was fifteen,
(04:55):
is understanding that the sun comes up, the sun goes down, and
when we're in those moments right ofstressing about your grades, your social relationship,
I just wish I could look backto me at fifteen and say,
it really is going to be okay. This is just today, and you
can have a significant impact on whattomorrow is going to look like. I
(05:16):
love that if people want more informationabout Legacy Treatment services, where did they
go. I'm so glad that youasked that question, Lorraine, because if
we can help folks, that's whatwe want to do, and so we
invite folks to just head to ourwebsite www dot Legacy treatment dot org.
There's a twenty four seven helpline thereand you can reach somebody at any time
(05:38):
of the day or night. Thanksso much. This episode is brought to
you by Comcast Business. Whatever yourday brings, will help you handle it
with reliable gig speeds and advanced cybersecuritysolutions. Every day in business is a
big Deck. Comcast Business will keepyou ready for what's next. Comcast Business
Powering possibilities Restrictions apply. Actual speedvarry call for details
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
This is Gavin Newsom
I’m Gavin Newsom. And, it’s time to have a conversation. It’s time to have honest discussions with people that agree AND disagree with us. It's time to answer the hard questions and be open to criticism, and debate without demeaning or dehumanizing one other. I will be doing just that on my new podcast – inviting people on who I deeply disagree with to talk about the most pressing issues of the day and inviting listeners from around the country to join the conversation. THIS is Gavin Newsom.