IAM1092- Founder Provides Housing Resources

Helping people is just in Liz Agboola’s nature and she has nearly 10 years of experience working with, and advocating for the serious mental illness (SMI) population, and has successfully spearheaded community efforts to ensure the availability of suitable housing for the disenfranchised, homeless, elderly, and veteran community. Liz currently holds the position of CEO for three Valley organizations she founded with her parents and siblings: Senior Placement Services (SPS), an assistance program in Phoenix that provides housing resources for vulnerable veterans and homeless individuals who are unable to live independently due to medical or mental health conditions; Moses Behavioral Care (MBC), a mental health facility in Phoenix offering 24-hour, long-term care for the SMI population; and FreshStart, a health care staffing, recruiting, and training agency formed to meet the increased demand for highly qualified health care professionals. Liz is on the board of Valleywise Health Foundation and Dignity Health Hospital. She formed Valleywise’s program Emerging Leaders, which pairs diverse young professionals with executives for one-year mentorships, and she was handpicked to join the American Heart Association's committee, where she works to raise awareness and support AHA's life-changing breakthroughs. Agboola holds a masters in both Business and Education from Old Dominion University and she works diligently, with her family, to uphold mental health as a critical part of overall wellness.

• CEO Hack: Meditating
• CEO Nugget: Have a community to lean on
• CEO Defined: Effecting change in whatever way you can

Website: http://www.mosesbhcare.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/liz_agboola/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SeniorPlacementAZ

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00:30 – Intro

Are you ready to hear business stories and learn effective ways to build relationships, generate sales, and level up your business from awesome CEOs, entrepreneurs, and founders who value your time and are ready to share with you the valuable info you're in search of? This is the I AM CEO podcast.

00:57 – Gresham Harkless

Hello. Hello. Hello. This is Gresh from the I AM CEO podcast. I have a very special guest on the show today. I have Liz Agabola of Moses Behavioral Care. Liz, it's great to have you on the show.

01:07 – Liz Agboola

Thank you. Thanks for having me.

01:09 – Gresham Harkless

Super excited to have you on. And before we jump into the interview, I want to read a little bit more about Liz so you can hear about all the awesome things that she's doing. And helping people is just in Liz's nature. She has nearly ten years of experience working with and advocating for the serious mental illness population and has successfully spearheaded community efforts to ensure the availability of suitable housing for the disenfranchised, homeless, elderly, and veteran community.

Liz currently holds the position of CEO for three Valley organizations she founded with her parents and siblings, senior placement services, an assistant program in Phoenix that provides housing resources for vulnerable veterans and homeless individuals who are unable to live independently due to medical or mental health conditions, Moses Behavioral Care, a mental health facility in Phoenix offering twenty-four-hour long term care for the SMI population, and Freshstart, a health care staffing recruiting and training agency performed formed to meet the increased need for highly qualified health care professionals.

Liz is on the board of the ValleyWise Health Foundation and Dignity Health Hospital. She formed ValleyWise's program, Emerging Leaders, which pairs diverse young professionals with executives for one-year mentorships, and she was handpicked to join the American Heart Association's committee where she works to raise awareness and support for life-changing breakthroughs. Liz holds a master's in both business and education from Old Dominion University, and she works diligently with her family to uphold mental health as a critical part of overall wellness. Liz, great to have you on the show. Are you ready to speak to the I AM CEO  community?

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02:45 – Liz Agboola

I am. Thanks for that introduction.

02:47 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Well, thanks for doing all the phenomenal things that you're doing, and I wanted to kick everything off and jump straight in and hear a little bit more about how you got started, what I like to call your CEO story.

02:58 – Liz Agboola

Well, I technically didn't get it started. My mother just told me what to do. Right? Just as parents typically do. At the time, this is several years ago, my mother and my parents, were both volunteering at our local hospital here at St. Luke's, and, they just noticed the same folks that they were providing care for inside. They'd see them sitting outside at the doors, and maybe they'd be readmitted at some point, but the recidivism for those folks was very high. And, like, parental fashion, my mom told me to go to her boss and ask why those folks are sitting out there. And I was employed at the time. I was, in corporate. I was a director of learning and development for Gannett. And so my job required a lot of travel. I was pregnant at the time, so much going on.

Anyway, so I went and I asked, and she was just like, Liz, they're homeless. A lot of them are veterans, and there's not there's not a ton of resources out there for them. And, so I told my mom, and I was like, I think we can do something about that. So simultaneously, pregnant, and working my normal nine-to-five, which included travel. We started to just talk to some of these folks, some of the hospital administrators to identify what we can do. Can we help to find them housing? Is housing available? What kind of housing? All of those questions that you typically would ask. And, we found that there were resources out there. They just didn't have access. So we just created senior placement services to essentially act as a bridge to locate those services, whether it's getting them onto an access program, whether it's getting them social security or just straight housing, or assisted living housing specifically for these members.

And that's how senior placement was born. I eventually quit my job. We started doing this full-time. And once we realized that housing options were limited, or at least we were exhausting so many of them, we decided to open up our own, mental health facilities, which is now Moses. And we have sixty beds currently. And, yeah. So we're, obviously, we're building more and more as the demand increases, and the demand is certainly there. So we're still just trying to meet the community where they are, and that can be a heavy lift sometimes, but certainly one that's worth it.

05:08 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Well, I appreciate you for sharing that and then being able to build everything with your family. But just as you said so well, it's something that there is a need for, and you being able to fulfill that need, I imagine, is incredibly fulfilling, but I'm sure it's something that can take a lot out of you. So I appreciate you for doing that work because I think this past year and a half and I think when we first connected, we talked a little bit about that. It's been something where people have been, I think, more aware of their mental health in so many different, you know, levels and places. So I appreciate you for doing that work and helping so many people do that.

05:42 – Liz Agboola

Perfect. Thank you. Yeah. I mean, anytime we think about mental health, we think of the far extremes and the mental institutions and folks that are homeless or the disenfranchised. But when it hits your home, right home, your children, your parents, everything, it puts things into perspective quite a bit very quickly.

06:01 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. Absolutely. When you start to yeah. As you said, it comes right into your front door a lot of times and sometimes into your house and who you are. So it's so important for the work that you do and to be able to make that impact. And so, I know I touched on it a little bit. You did as well. Could you take us through a little bit more on how you work with clients and how exactly that process goes?

06:20 – Liz Agboola

Yeah. So, we essentially have to contract with a lot of the insurance providers here locally to make sure that the members that require assistance, can provide it. So they come to us for thirty days to sometimes a couple of years just depending on the severity of their mental health concerns. And we essentially have to rehabilitate them. We help to get them back into society, whether it's getting them working or whether it's just understanding what their medication regimen is. Whatever it is that keeps them from being a danger to themselves, a danger to our community, we prepare them for.

Making their doctor's appointments, showing up to their doctor's appointments on time, and the medication piece, obviously, addiction or alcohol addiction, and, and, requires assistance with whether it's drug addiction or alcohol addiction or whether it's certain sexual addictions as well. And we help them to manage and find coping skills to deal with a lot of those things so that when they get their apartment or they're living, you know, semi-independently or they go into a program, they do so with, with quite a bit of success. And, know, they can hold down jobs, and they can contribute back to the community that's been serving them. So that's our goal.

07:37 – Gresham Harkless

Yeah. I appreciate you for doing that work. And so I was gonna ask you for what I call your secret sauce. And it could be for the organization of the business or yourself individually, but what do you feel sets you apart and makes you unique?

07:50 – Liz Agboola

It's not anything that necessarily sets me apart that someone else couldn't do. It took me some time to figure this out. But we all have a network of people that we consider friends or family or acquaintances that we typically don't tap into for advice because we see them. They're common to us. Right? There's nothing special about these folks to us, especially people like our parents. They'll always be there. Our friends will always be there. But we never think to lean on them. And, for me, especially working in mental health, I know that connection to people and that connection to resources, especially on tap resources, can mean survival, whether it's for your business or whether it's just for you as a person.

08:35 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. So I wanted to switch gears a little bit, and I wanted to ask you for what I call a CEO hack. So this could be like an app, a book, or a habit that you have, but what is something that makes you more effective and efficient?

08:48 – Liz Agboola

So it's going to sound cheesy, and I know we hear it all the time. But I do know one thing in our community, holistic health, it's kind of like,  who's got time for that? Or it's like you take your ART. I have my JOB. Right? We're not we're all, but, for the most part, we've always been ingrained in doing the work and the tangible work, but not the emotional work. And over the last about two and a half, almost three years now, I started meditating. And I used to get about, on average, maybe four hours of sleep at night, and that's a good night. And since I started, you'll have your days, where things are just off or sometimes just a couple days where things are off. Off. `

But since I started once I'm once I remain in my practice of meditation, my days are shorter. My workload is lighter. I'm less scatterbrained. There are so many things that I can get done after I've cleared my mind because you're almost, like, resetting everything. And I didn't realize that until I started losing sleep, losing hair. What else was I losing? I was losing my mind. I just was like, I wasn't present with anybody. But I was getting the work done, but I wasn't doing it efficiently. And since starting to meditate, it's things have been so much better. So that's me. That's my life hack for now. I'm sure I'll have something different maybe in the next couple years, But, this one has served me, and I and I appreciate that one.

10:33 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. And so I wanted to ask you now for what I call a CEO nugget. So this could be a word of wisdom or a piece of advice. It might be something you would tell a client, or if you have to do a time machine, you might tell your younger business self.

10:45 – Liz Agboola

So this is something that I typically say, and unfortunately or fortunately, it's geared mainly towards women. But, you know, in starting this company with my family, I was pregnant. I was pregnant. I was going through a divorce, and, like, life was just, like, out of whack. And one of the questions I had to ask myself as a new mom is, can I do this? I'm a mom. I'm single now. Like, can I spend all this time away from my child or juggle life as a mom and as a business owner? And the answer is you can. And I never it stopped me from moving forward. It was an obvious question I needed to ask to make sure I knew the decision I was making.

And, it all goes back to that community. Use your community to lean on, But in deciding whether you can be a mom and doing all of these things that, you know, we hear, it was like, well, men do it, and they don't have to ask these questions. Well, yeah. That's great, but they're double standards in everything. And, unfortunately, this is one of ours. We incubate this person for nine months, and the idea of just releasing them to the world or a stranger is very scary. But in deciding that and in thinking that it's not possible, I mean, there are so many women out there that are that are living proof that it is possible.

And I'm hoping that women are not using that as a deterrent to move forward with their dreams because our kids want us to be happy, and we have to be happy for them too. And not pursuing our dreams to fulfill another goal of being a mother is not living a whole life. You can't just do for everybody else and not do for yourself. And again, that goes back to your mental health. So that's one of the things I tend to talk about often and also the idea of finding mentorships and sponsorships as well. So reach out into those into that circle even if it's somebody that you don't know. I mean, take that leap. Reach out to somebody on LinkedIn that you think is amazing. Right?

And see if they're willing to sit down and have coffee with you. Why not? I've done it. I've done it tons of times. Some people don't respond. Some most most people who respond, almost always say yes. You know? People love that you that you're watching them and you're following them and, you know, you're willing to learn from them. It's something that even I as a business owner and as a mom, lean on other moms, I lean on other business owners, but you're never too big to step outside of that and ask and reach out to those connections.

13:13 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. Awesome. Awesome. Well, Liz, now I wanted to ask you my absolute favorite question, which is the definition of what it means to be a CEO. We're hoping to have different, quote-unquote, CEOs on this show. So, Liz, what does being a CEO mean to you?

13:25 – Liz Agboola

Affecting change, in whatever way you can, whether it's through your company or just through the fact that you are who you are. That change creates an impact, whether it's within your community, your organization, or within your social circle. It's nice to see so many minorities doing amazing things since COVID because we were forced to. And that's how we grow. It's not always in the best situations that you see growth. It's typically through strife. And, for me, being a CEO just means seeing people do that and telling them that story and how that means by a make by affecting change in your life, but that's what it means for me.

14:08 – Gresham Harkless

Absolutely. Well, Liz, appreciate that. Appreciate your time even more. What I wanted to do is just pass you the mic, so to speak, just to see if there's anything additional that you can let our readers and listeners know, of course, how best they can get ahold of you and find about all the awesome things you're working on.

14:21 – Liz Agboola

Yeah. So my email address is Liz@Mosesbhcare.com. If you have any questions, in the state, out of state about mental health, resources that you may find it difficult to access as veterans or even as, you know, a mom, a dad, a friend who sees somebody struggling and you just don't know where to call, who to reach out to, or if, you know, you have anybody who has some housing challenges because of their mental health concern, please reach out. Be happy to help wherever we can. And, Gresham, thank you so much for giving entrepreneurs a platform to tell their stories so we can also affect change in our small communities, and in our greater community as well. So, you're doing a huge service. So I thank you.

15:02 – Gresham Harkless

Awesome. I appreciate you, for doing all that awesome work so that we can be on this platform. And we will have the links and information in the show notes as well too so that everybody can follow up with you. Thank you so much again for the impact that you're having and the impact that you had today, and I hope you have a great rest of the day.

15:17 – Outro

Thank you for listening to the I AM CEO Podcast powered by Blue 16 Media. Tune in next time and visit us at iamceo.co I AM CEO is not just a phrase, it's a community. Be sure to follow us on social media and subscribe to our podcast on iTunes Google Play and everywhere you listen to podcasts, SUBSCRIBE, and leave us a five-star rating grab CEO gear at www.ceogear.co. This has been the I AM CEO Podcast with Gresham Harkless. Thank you for listening.

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