Sobriety is not the end goal. It's the starting line.
A better path forward for treatment services that create productive, tax-paying citizens — not revolving-door statistics.
The problem
The 90-day model is broken — and it's wasting lives and money.
Most facilities run a "turn-and-burn" 90-day cycle that pushes clients out the door before they've built the skills to live independently.
Themoderntreatmentmodelisbroken,whiletreatmentremainsanextremelyimportantissuetosolve.
Lifetime Cost to the State
| Cost without treatment | $840,000 |
| Cost with Shawnee treatment | $50,000 |
| Net savings | $790,000 |
A one-time $50,000 investment returns up to $420K in long-term state savings — and a person who pays taxes instead of consuming them.
Treatment matters.
Cost savings. Increased earning. Safer streets.
Treatment isn't the problem — bad treatment is. When it works, the return on investment is staggering for clients, families, and the public.
Reduced healthcare costs
Fewer ER visits, fewer overdoses, fewer chronic-care admissions.
Increased earning
Clients return to the workforce — and to the tax base.
Less crime
Drug-intervention programs show significant drops in arrests and recidivism.
Source: Journal of Substance Use and Addiction Treatment
ThereIsASolution.OperatingAsATreatmentCenterInOhioShouldRequireMeasurableStandardsInThreeCategories:
Programming
The 88 protocol — 88 objective, mastery-based milestones. The result: our clients achieve 10× the industry average in clean drug tests.
Outcomes
Measure success by real-world outcomes — not check-boxes. Track housing stability, sustained employment, primary care engagement, criminal-justice involvement, client satisfaction, and sense of purpose. Reported annually with verified data.
Housing
Clean, safe recovery housing throughout. A new environment is non-negotiable — you cannot rebuild a life in the place that broke it. A chronically homeless person costs the taxpayer an average of $35,578 per year. Costs are reduced by 49.5% when placed in supportive housing. — National Alliance to End Homelessness
The results
Outcomes.
Housing.
We follow this formula with our clients and they drug test 10× better than the national average.
Level 2.1 outpatient outcomes — the picture of a rebuilt life
Shawnee Counseling Center 2025 IOP Reporting
Lifetime cost — without treatment
28 adult years × ~$30k/yr in Medicaid & incarceration costs.
Net additional cost of Shawnee program
A one-time investment that returns up to $420,000 in long-term state savings — and a person who pays taxes instead of consuming them.
Go deeper
The blueprint is public. Use it.
The protocol
The 88
88 objective, mastery-based milestones across early, middle, sustained and advanced recovery — the actionable spine of our program.
Read The 88 →The data
Infographics
Full outcome data, year over year — housing, employment, satisfaction, completion rates, and the real economics of recovery.
Browse the data →With the right framework, recovery is possible.
One in twelve Americans struggles with substance use disorder. Only 10% receive treatment. We're here to change that — with a method that actually works.