Meet Susan Binkley

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Susan Binkley a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Susan, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

My work ethic has been developing since my first job at the age of 15. I could not wait until I could start working and earn a paycheck, which is funny because money has never been that important to me. I think the paycheck represented a job well done, and that was more important to me than the dollar amount.

Through the years I have had a number of jobs from businesses I created myself. And every single one was something I knew nothing about. I ran a large horse boarding operation on a 120 acre farm and knew very little about horses. So, I sought the wisdom of every farmer in the area and learned everything I could about horses. I developed two unique vacation rentals and learned that business from others doing the same thing.

The most outrageous venture was that I opened a bakery when I had never baked a thing. But I found people who knew how to bake and eventually figured it out. And in 2003, I founded a residential recovery program for women and their children and knew absolutely nothing about addiction or recovery. However, I think that actually worked very well because God was able to start the organization, Blue Monarch, with a blank slate and create the successful program he had in mind.

I teach a work ethics course to the women we serve at Blue Monarch, which is basically developed from all my bad experiences employing the population we serve. But I was the one with the steepest learning curve. What I discovered was that their poor work performance, which I thought was laziness or inconsideration, was actually a reflection of how little value they held for what they had to offer in the workplace. They can’t imagine how their presence – or absence – can possibly make a difference.

So, I love to take the women at Blue Monarch through a powerful process to discover all the strengths they have to offer an employer and I get to see that brilliant light come on when they realize, “Hey, I really can have a job I love!” I also love to challenge them to walk in the shoes of the employer for a while by designing their own fictitious business. It’s always puzzled me that the employer is so often the “bad guy” when she is the one signing the paycheck. But I have found that by putting themselves in the place of the employer not only develops respect and empathy for a supervisor or boss, but it develops greater work ethic in the process.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

Blue Monarch has been constantly growing and developing since I started it in 2003 and since that time we have served nearly 1,000 women and children. We have never reached a place where we just “operated” because we were always trying to meet the increasing needs of the population we serve.

I have been extremely troubled by the dramatic increase in trauma our kids have experienced. So, we have strengthened our children services to better address the anger and behavioral issues that result from such profound trauma.

We are constantly approached by similar organizations wanting to learn from our experience and success. We are currently building a 24,000 square foot multi-purpose building, which will provide an excellent space for training and by teaching others to do what we do, we will be able to serve many more families.

But on a daily basis this building will offer more room for all our classes, activities, offices, events, graduations, recreation, and even a chapel. By moving all those operations out of the house where we currently operate, we will also be able to turn those spaces back into living quarters and serve more families.

In 2023, I published “From My Front Row Seat,” a book full of stories from my 20 years working alongside women in recovery. This book has opened new doors for us, not only in helping others who do similar work, but the book has also provided inspiration for readers who report they “laugh and cry at the same time.” It’s written in my own voice, which is raw and authentic with a thread of humor as well. The stories are filled with complicated realities of recovery, tragedies of generational abuse and addiction, honest struggles of leadership, tremendous power of prayer, and beautiful illustrations of a God who heals. The reader gets to know the courageous women and precious children of Blue Monarch and walk away reminded that miracles are still very real.

We are also excited to begin construction soon on a new commercial kitchen for our on-site granola business, Out of the Blue. Our granola is baked by the women in the Blue Monarch program and sold in outlets such as Whole Foods and Publix stores, as well as specialty markets and gift shops. Out of the Blue provides income for the women we serve and allows them to build positive work history and healthy job references. This expansion will allow us to double our capacity and take on additional customers while offering more jobs to the women at Blue Monarch.

There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?

I feel like I have begun every single day since 2003 with a trust fall. I’m convinced Blue Monarch was God’s plan, which he shared with me in a very powerful, detailed dream many years ago. Knowing this journey was God sent is the only way I could have survived it because doing it in my own strength would have been impossible.

By nature, I am a creative, outside-the-box thinker and problem solver. I think this has been very beneficial as we have developed one of the most successful and unique recovery programs in the nation. I love trying new ideas and I am grateful Blue Monarch is privately funded so we can have a great idea at 10:00 and be doing it by 3:00. We have never been restricted or limited by preconceived notions about recovery.

I love taking risks – and running a large non-profit, depending on uncertain, unexpected funds is certainly a big risk. But I also love taking risks in trying new ideas. I often tell the women of Blue Monarch, who are afraid to fail, that you can’t fail as long as you try.

And my favorite motto is: “Why settle for ordinary if you can have extraordinary?” I believe in striving for excellence in everything we do. And because of that, our program is uniquely successful, and our campus does not look like a recovery facility – it looks like a seaside village. Recovery doesn’t have to be dreadful.

What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?

My dad always told me I could do anything. And I believed him. So, I often wonder if my life would have been profoundly different if he did not constantly convince me I was invincible and capable.

Many of the women we serve never had parents who encouraged them or even gave them a compliment their entire lives. And sadly, many of our women were taught to use drugs by a parent or grandparent and were even physically or sexually abused by their own biological fathers. It’s no wonder they turned to drugs as a way to numb the pain. And if not for our program, their children would likely repeat the same thing.

At Blue Monarch we focus on the child’s recovery as much as the mom’s. And we teach moms to parent sober, often for the very first time. Through our program over 350 children have been reunited with their mothers who had lost custody and because of what they learn with us, the moms are healthier parents and better prepared to care for their kids. We feel we are changing the family tree and changing many generations to come. The moms we serve are taught to raise their children the way my father raised me. And I am convinced their kids will do the same thing.

Contact Info:

Image Credits

Michelle Barnett Photography
Donaree Masters Photography
Michael Marchetti Architect

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