An Oxford house provides recovering addicts a safe, substance-free place to live. Access To Recovery is the trusted and first community-funded backbone to the Oxford House name in Rhode Island. We specialize in working closely with each individual house to ensure it’s success. We collaborate with our community partners to provide furniture donations, guidance and technical support on an on-going basis. Each House represents a remarkably effective and low cost method of preventing relapse. This was the purpose of the first Oxford House established in 1975, and this purpose is served, day by day, house after house, in each of over 2500 houses in the United States today.
In its simplest form, an Oxford House describes a democratically run, self-supporting and drug free home. Parallel to this concept lies the organizational structure of Oxford House, Inc. This publicly supported, non-profit 501(c)3 corporation is the umbrella organization which provides the network connecting all Oxford Houses and allocates resources to duplicate the Oxford House oxford house traditions concept where needs arise. Another change that was identified was the increase in the percentage of individuals in social networks who were either abstainers or in recovery. This study also found that children present in Oxford Houses positively impacted both parents and other members, and that the well-managed and governed recovery homes posed minimal risks to neighbors.
Q. How are the current tight government budgets likely to affect Oxford House?
Finally, consistent with a broad conceptualization of recovery, residents reported that living in Oxford House helped them remain sober but also facilitated the development of life skills and a new sense of purpose along with increased self-esteem. In 2007, the Oxford House organization received about $1.6 million in grants from state and local governments to pay outreach workers to develop and maintain networks of individual Oxford Houses in nine States and the District of Columbia. Only 6% of these costs were for general and administrative costs of Oxford House, Inc. During 2007, the inhabitants of Oxford Houses expended approximately $47,814,156 to pay the operational expenses of the houses.
- Within our sample, 58.4% were Caucasian, 34.0% were African American, 3.5% were Hispanic, and 4% were other.
- The National Alliance for Recovery Residences (NARR) sets national standards that affiliate agencies can use to certify recovery residences and that individuals can use to find a sober living home with a high standard of care.
- Forty-four percent of the sample was involved in administering and running support groups.
The Oxford House model suggests that there are alternative social approaches that can transcend the polarities that threaten our nation (Jason, 1997). We believe that there is much potential in the Oxford House model for showing how intractable problems may be dealt with by actively involving the community. We do not receive any commission or fee that is dependent upon which treatment provider a caller chooses. “My life living here is pretty good, yeah, it’s the best it has been for a really long time,” Adeola said when reflecting on the last two years he has spent living at an Oxford House. Adeola is living proof that recovery is possible, and Oxford Houses across America are giving lives back.
Oxford House
Oxford House offers a supportive way of living and opportunities to learn life skills in a clean and sober environment. Oxford Houses are peer-run, self-supporting addiction recovery homes that help individuals, like Adeola, become productive members of society while also providing a safe place to live. Oxford Recovery Houses appear to provide an effective and inexpensive alternative for many individuals seeking recovery. The findings also suggest that Oxford Houses may be appropriate for a variety of individuals with an assortment of needs and that living in a substance-free environment without restrictions on length of stay may help individuals remain abstinent. Oxford Houses are a community-based, mutual-help residential community where participants seeking recovery from substance use disorders must obtain jobs, pay utility bills, and refrain from disruptive behavior.
- Sober living homes, sometimes referred to as transitional living arrangements, halfway houses, or recovery residences, can be a step down from formal substance use treatment programs.
- We believe that selecting multi-level, multi-methods approaches allowed us to better clarify complex phenomena that we were studying.
- An average day at a sober living home usually includes group breakfasts, lunches and dinners.
- For this reason, the property must be run, on a democratic basis, for the benefit of the House as a group rather than for any individual member.
- This study did not provide outcome data regarding residents’ experiences living in these recovery communities.
Once that’s received by the house, you’ll be interviewed by the house members. After the interview, the house members will decide if you’ll be allowed to move in by taking a vote. Oxford House is a concept in recovery housing from drug and alcohol addiction.
Main Outcome Studies
Yet, needing a roof over your head isn’t the only reason to consider an Oxford House. These homes offer individuals a safe and secure place to live where they can learn responsibility, gain recovery support, and learn to live a sober life. In a different study, Jason and Ferrari also examined abstinence-specific social support and successful abstention from substance use https://ecosoberhouse.com/ in a national sample of more than 900 Oxford House residents. Yes, there are Oxford Houses in Canada, Australia and Ghana with active interest in England, Bulgaria and other countries. Alcoholism and drug addiction are international problems and Oxford Houses can provide recovering individuals the opportunity to become comfortable enough in sobriety to avoid relapse.
After treatment for substance abuse, whether by prison, hospital-based treatment programs, or therapeutic communities, many patients return to former high-risk environments or stressful family situations. Returning to these settings without a network of people to support abstinence increases chances of relapse (Jason, Olson & Foli, 2008). As a consequence, alcohol and substance use recidivism following treatment is high for both men and women (Montgomery et al., 1993). Alternative approaches need to be explored, such as abstinence-specific social support settings (Vaillant, 2003). Self-governed settings may offer several benefits as they require minimal costs because residents pay for their own expenses (including housing and food).
Our group has recently received a federal grant to explore this new type of culturally modified recovery home. In 1975, a tight budget in Montgomery County, Maryland led to a decision to close one of the four county-run halfway houses. The thirteen men living in the halfway house rented the building and decided to run it themselves. They immediately decided to change the rule that limited a stay to six months because they had witnessed that when a person was required to leave because the time was up they almost always relapsed within thirty days of leaving. That was an important change because recovering individuals take different lengths of time to become comfortable enough in sobriety to avoid relapse.
Almost all medical problems are first identified by primary care and referred to specialists, but this is not the case with substance abuse disorders, where most individuals first approach specialist substance abuse treatment settings. The Office of National Drug Control Policy is currently considering recommending that primary care settings should identify people with substance abusers in primary care settings in order to refer more patients to detoxification and treatment. If this occurs, there will emerge unique opportunities for psychologists in both screening and referral.
