The Alcohol and Drug Council views addiction as a progressive, treatable disease with recognizable symptoms. By providing prevention, education and counseling services to individuals and families, the Council strives to provide people with the support necessary for sobriety and good health. Since we continually strive to prevent and treat alcohol and drug abuse, it is easy to characterize us as behavior managers. However, our work with people goes beyond a change in behavior. We are not simply trying to help people establish and maintain abstinence from alcohol and other drugs. Abstinence is a necessary but insufficient condition for a successful life. The achievement of abstinence is akin to laying the foundation of a house. The construction of a satisfactory and successful life requires a plan of action or blueprint for attainable and well thought out life goals. Without a blueprint, recovery from addiction is unsustainable. Sustainable recovery from addiction means putting an end to a vicious cycle. It means going beyond behavioral change. To help people end the vicious cycle of addiction, we are turning our attention to treatment outcomes that are hard to measure but indicate success at a deeper level. Instead of focusing only on important measurable outcomes, such as abstinence from alcohol and other drugs or obtaining a job, we are also looking at qualitative outcomes. These are equally important but hard to measure. For instance, consider the following outcomes that are impossible to quantify or measure but are necessary for a satisfying and successful life: (1) improved intimacy between spouses or between parents and their children; (2) acquired sense of belonging to a community or a sense of fulfillment in a job or career; (3) achieved sense of comfort in life despite its uncertainties. Qualitative outcomes, such as the examples given above, give rise to successful lives. These qualitative outcomes are the driving force behind our mission and programs.