Addiction treatment is one of those sectors where change is slow and often uncomfortable. It asks for more than just technical leadership. It demands patience, integrity, and a deep understanding of people. Martin Peters, Chief Operations Officer at Samarpan, has spent over three decades in this space, navigating systems from inside psychiatric wards to building full-scale rehabilitation centers across Southeast Asia and now India. His work has never been about reinventing the wheel. It has always been about building structures that hold when no one is watching.

Today, as COO at Samarpan, a growing mental health and addiction treatment organization in India, he is working toward something few talk about openly in this space. Whether it’s accreditation, team development, or service design, his focus remains steady.

Early Life and Career Foundation

Martin grew up in Cornwall, in a town where most people stayed close to where they started. There wasn’t much talk of healthcare careers, let alone leadership, but there was an early sense that he was drawn to people. That instinct shaped his decision to study social work and later move into nursing.

He began his career in the UK’s National Health Service. He worked in crisis teams, prisons, supported patients in acute psychiatric care, and learned how fragile the system could be when it lacked structure. The pressure wasn’t just clinical, it was cultural.

“I saw early on how much difference it makes when you’re backed by a good system. It changes how people work. It changes what’s possible,” Martin says.

Scaling Impact in Southeast Asia

 Martin arrived in Thailand without a long-term plan, and it was a huge professional shift. But the role quickly turned into a major turning point. He joined DARA when it was still finding its footing. The structure was loose, the team was small, and the need for effective addiction treatment was growing fast – it grew quickly from 12 beds to 60 beds in 6 years. In 2015 he founded Lanna Healthcare, and transformed it into a dynamic, highly professional rehab that grew to 72 beds after acquiring DARA which had struggled following his exit in 2018.

In the years that followed, he helped turn that small center into one of the largest private rehabilitation providers in Southeast Asia. He worked on developing programs, guiding an acquisition, and reorganizing operations to support scale. The process was fast, often messy, but deeply instructive.

What worked in one country didn’t always work in another. That meant listening closely, adjusting models, and staying rooted in the core purpose of care. “Leadership doesn’t always mean stepping in. Sometimes it means holding space and letting others shape the right answer,” he says.

A Mission Rooted in India

When Martin joined Samarpan in 2021, the team in Pune was still in the early stages of building. The clinical vision was unclear, and there were no systems in place. He focused on what needed attention. People, structure, and daily processes. The work was slow in parts, but it gave him a chance to shape something properly from the start.

The center later earned CARF and Gorski-CENAPS accreditations. For Martin, the achievement mattered less than the process it demanded. It pushed the team to look closely at how things worked, where gaps showed up, and how care could be delivered more responsibly.

In June 2024, he began working with the Mumbai outpatient team. The clinic had strong potential but still needed a clearer focus, proper clinical direction and processes. He helped restructure how it operated, added specialized staff, and introduced weekly supervision.

Leadership and Culture

Martin doesn’t talk about vision or philosophy unless someone asks directly. Most of what he believes is visible in how he works. He expects people to do their jobs well and take responsibility when something falls short.

He also doesn’t use titles unless necessary. Everyone calls him Martin, including the housekeeping staff and new joiners. If someone tries to call him Sir, he usually corrects them. “It just gets in the way. We all work in the same place. That should be enough,” he says.

This way of working wasn’t something he planned. It came from years of seeing how people responded when leadership was distant or inconsistent. What he values now is consistency. If the rules are clear and if people know where they stand, they tend to show up more honestly.

Balancing Growth and Expectations

Martin is the first to admit that balance did not come naturally. In the early part of his career, he rarely slowed down. If something slipped, he would step in. If a project stalled, he would take it on himself. It felt like commitment at the time, though he later understood it was also about control.

He eventually learned to step back without withdrawing completely. That required choosing where his attention was most useful and allowing others to lead, even when mistakes were part of the process. Letting go was not about detachment. It was about trust.

His routine today reflects that shift. He still works long hours, but with greater clarity. He makes time for cricket, family, therapy, and conversations with people he respects. These moments give him the steadiness required for a role that often involves navigating uncertainty.

For Martin, responsibility no longer means holding everything together. It means making sure others are equipped to hold their part and grow within it.

Legacy Through Leadership

Martin has never positioned himself at the center of the work. His goal has always been to create something that functions well regardless of who is in charge. That approach shaped how he led changes at Samarpan.

At the Mumbai outpatient clinic, systems were reviewed and realigned. Roles became clearer, staffing was strengthened, and internal support structures were reinforced. The focus was not on applying external models. It was on building something that reflected the needs of the people using it.

The process was not always smooth. There were uncomfortable conversations, competing priorities, and adjustments that took time. But the outcome was a new team that became more confident in its decisions and a system that held up under pressure.

Martin does not speak much about legacy. For him, it is visible in the way people work when they are trusted. It shows in how teams adapt, how standards are maintained, and how leadership continues even when no one is directing it.

Resistance and Change

Martin has worked in enough systems to recognize that resistance often comes with the territory. When he joined Samarpan, that resistance appeared early. Some team members were hesitant about formal supervision, documentation or wider treatment modalities. Others found it difficult to shift from familiar routines to more structured roles. These adjustments were small on the surface, but they required people to rethink habits they had long relied on.

He didn’t initially try to force the change. Instead, he focused on making the reasons clear. He explained what each shift was meant to achieve, invited feedback, and gave people space to adapt. When concerns were repeated, he took the time to address them directly. Progress was expected, but there was room for people to find their footing, not everyone was able to adjust to this, and tough decision needed to be made.

Martin’s experience in building and restructuring teams, meant that he was not afraid to make those tough decisions, and this meant moving on the bulk of that team – and reinvigorating it with clinicians who are able to adapt to his high expectations – the transformation in the past 6 months has been rapid, with the growth of the clinicians already showing and a fully integrated team now in place.  Resistance is not a failure to engage. It is often a sign that something important is being challenged. The job of a leader, he believes, is to stay present through that discomfort and guide people through it – but when people are unwilling to change, then it’s time to move them on.

Martin’s impact does not come from grand gestures. It shows in the systems he builds, the standards he upholds, and the clarity he brings to difficult spaces. He rarely speaks about legacy – other than saying “I just want to be remembered for making a difference and leading an organization that isn’t reliant on me.” But it can be seen in the way his teams operate, the way decisions are made, and the way people begin to lead with confidence. That, in itself, is the outcome he has worked toward.