River Oaks Staff Greet New American Addiction Centers CEO

In March of 2022, River Oaks Treatment Center staff were pleased to welcome Dr. Tom Britton, the new CEO of American Addiction Centers (parent company of River Oaks).

Dr. Tom Britton came on board with American Addiction Centers (AAC) on February 7, 2022. Britton previously served as president & CEO of Gateway Health, one of the most well-known non-profit providers of substance use disorder treatment in the United States.

Britton brings many years of industry experience to AAC, combined with a personal passion for addiction treatment that stems from his own struggles with substance use in his youth and his journey to recovery.

After finding recovery from addiction himself, Dr. Britton found his true calling: helping people who faced similar struggles. While he always knew he wanted to help people in some way, he now knew he wanted to work in the addiction treatment industry with patients who are all too often stigmatized and whose diseases often go untreated. He returned to school to earn a master’s degrees in both marriage and family therapy and addiction counseling. From there, Britton went on to earn a PhD in public health.

Dr. Britton’s clinical experience includes working directly with patients who struggle from co-occurring disorders (addiction and mental illness) and those who have a history of trauma. From there, he went on to run his first residential substance use disorder treatment facility and eventually moved on to Gateway Foundation, which served more than 8,000 clients per day.

During Britton’s visit to River Oaks, he was able to get a glimpse into the high-quality treatment that River Oaks provides all patients and to meet Jeffrey Turiczek (River Oaks CEO), and all of the staff, and discuss new ways to continue growing the program and setting the bar for all treatment programs in Florida.