Oxford House, Inc. acts as the coordinating body for providing charters for the opening of new Oxford Houses. It also acts as the coordinating body to help individual houses to organize mutually supportive chapters. Through chapters individual houses are able to share their experience, strength and hope with each other to assure compliance with the Oxford House concept and its respected standardized system of operations. When we stopped drinking, we began to realize that in order to stay stopped, our lives would need to change. Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous provided a framework for us to change physically, mentally, and spiritually.
- The bond that holds the group together is the desire to stop drinking and stay stopped.
- When we stopped drinking, we began to realize that in order to stay stopped, our lives would need to change.
- The reason that each Oxford House is independent arises from the very practical consideration that those who are closest to a situation are best able to manage it.
What is the Model?
Residents democratically make their voices heard through the individual houses, the Chapters, the World Council and the Oxford House, Inc. The legacy of Oxford House is forever secure as long as the concept, Traditions and system of operations is assured by control of its members through participation in an effective democratic system of organization. Oxford House, Inc. is a separate nonprofit organization that employs field staff to provide technical assistance to the network of houses to help expand the Oxford House Model. For a couple of months in 1975, he found himself living on the streets and begging strangers for money before he entered a rehabilitation program. He moved to a county-run halfway house in Silver Spring, MD, to recover but soon learned that the facility was about to close. Each member pays EES (Equal Expense Share) which includes the total amount of rent due for the month as well as the cost of utilities, telephone, cable TV and any other expenses that the house includes in its common expenditures.
- Learn what makes Oxford House stand out as a unique model for recovery housing.
- In 1987, the late Bill Spillane, Ph. D., who had retired from NIDA and was teaching at Catholic University School of Social Work in Washington, D.C.
Q. Are there Oxford Houses set up for special populations?
Each has a term limit of 6 months to further support a well functioning democratic environment. The Oxford House Model references the system of operations of a unique, time-tested model recognized by the Federal Government as an evidence-based practice shown to bring significant results currently unmatched in the recovery space. Oxford House set out for national expansion by hiring the first outreach workers to start opening houses in other states. With passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, expansion of Oxford Houses exploded.
Q. What is an Oxford House Charter?
- Each member has an equal voice in the group and each has an opportunity to relearn responsibility and to accept decisions once they are made.
- Second, an Oxford House must follow the democratic principles in running the house.
- Oxford Houses flourish in metropolitan areas such as New York City and Washington D.C.
- Therefore, it is important that each Oxford House meet these minimum responsibilities in order for its charter to be continued.
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 oxford sober living all Oxford Houses and allocates resources to duplicate the Oxford House concept where needs arise. The number of residents in a House may range from six to fifteen; there are houses for men, houses for women, and houses which accept women with children.
World Council
Other members were asked to leave halfway houses in order to make room for a recovering alcoholic or recovering drug addict who was ready to move into a halfway house. Each individual recovers from alcoholism or drug addiction at a different pace. All too often, an abrupt transition from a protected environment to an environment which places considerable glamour on the use of alcohol and drugs causes a return to alcoholic drinking or addictive drug use.
Oxford Houses work because they are:
The degree to which we were able to successfully change our lives had a direct relationship to Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous. Many of us soon learned, however, that living alone or living among our old drinking companions made it more difficult to practice the principles necessary for continued sobriety. The Oxford House Model provides community based, supportive, and sober living environment. Oxford House, Inc., a non-profit corporation, belongs to the residents of Oxford Houses nationwide.
Many individuals in society are able to abide by the strict letter of any rule, regulation , or law. Alcoholics and drug addicts seem to have a tendency to test and retest the validity of any real, potential, or imagined restriction on their behavior. In its simplest form, an Oxford House describes a democratically run, self-supporting and substance free home.
- For a couple of months in 1975, he found himself living on the streets and begging strangers for money before he entered a rehabilitation program.
- The example of Oxford House members going to AA or NA meetings on their own is contagious.
- Each member pays EES (Equal Expense Share) which includes the total amount of rent due for the month, utilities and basic staples for the house.
- The concept and the standardized, democratic, self-supported Oxford House system of operations itself are far more persuasive than any individual.
A recovering individual can live in an Oxford House for as long as he or she does not drink alcohol, does not use drugs, and pays an equal share of the house expenses. The average stay is about a year, but many residents stay three, four, or more years. It is obvious why Oxford amphetamine addiction treatment House must strongly protect the sobriety of its other members by asking the drinking member or member using drugs to leave.