Some individuals live in Oxford Houses a few months, others, for many years. Together, these individuals develop each Oxford House into a place to learn to live a responsible life without the use of alcohol and drugs. While the average duration of stay is just over a year, many residents choose to remain for three, four, or even more years.
Find manuals, forms, and other resources from Oxford House.
Failure to adhere to any of these three requirements would bring the entire Oxford House concept into question. Therefore, it is important that each Oxford House meet these minimum responsibilities in order for its charter to be continued. All Oxford Houses have been careful to avoid undo dependence on government or other outside funds. The opportunity for a house to democratically function requires periodic meetings within the house — at least once a week. Such meetings should be used to resolve any operational or personality problems facing the house.
Q. Are there Oxford Houses set up for special populations?
An Oxford House Chapter is an additional level of support for individual Oxford Houses. Chapters are important links in making the democratic system of organization underlying Oxford House™ work. The Chapter is the place where all the members of the Oxford House family of individual houses help each other to stay on track and to remain effective. The Chapter is also the place where individuals expand their network of sober friends as Chapters host all kinds of social events that bring their community together. Once accepted, an Oxford House member can stay as long as they like, provided they stay drug and alcohol free, are not disruptive, and pay their share of house expenses.
Forms and Manuals
During our drinking and drug use years, and even before, many of us found it difficult to accept authority. 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. 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.
What Is the Ideal Number of Members for an Oxford House?
Oxford House is the largest network of sober living houses anywhere, with houses in all major areas of Florida. Oxford House Placement Services is a non-profit referral agency founded to help recovering individuals find placements in Oxford Houses in their locality. We maintain a toll free hotline reporting towns and phone numbers of Oxford Houses with vacancies. This system enables prospective members to find openings quickly and apply Alcoholics Anonymous to houses. Each House represents a remarkably effective and low cost method of preventing relapse.
OXFORD HOUSE
- Individuals living in each of the Oxford Houses have also been responsible for starting many new groups of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous having meetings near an Oxford House.
- Instead of being left to their own fates, Mr. Molloy and other residents decided to take over the house themselves, paying the expenses and utilities, cooking the meals and keeping watch over one another’s path to recovery.
- That was an important change because recovering individuals take different lengths of time to become comfortable enough in sobriety to avoid relapse.
- There’s no time limit on how long a member can live in an Oxford House.
- The article highlights the success of these houses, where recovering individuals work together, abide by simple rules, and maintain a drug-free environment.
- If an applicant does not get voted into one house he or she should try another house in the area.
- Ideally several of the bedrooms are large enough for two twin beds so that newcomers, in particular, are able to have a roommate.
Find a house, fill out the application, and call a house to schedule an interview. You will usually pay a nonrefundable fee, plus payment for your first two weeks, and you can move in. Call the contact person for each house you’re interested in to set up an interview.
Please feel free to visit the contacts page on this website to speak with one of the Oxford House staff.
- Oxford House is the largest network of sober living houses anywhere, with houses in all major areas of Florida.
- And thrive in such diverse communities as Kansas, Hawaii, Washington State, Canada and Australia; but they all abide by the basic criteria.
- Since then courts have found that the same protection applies with respect to fire safety standards and rates charged property owners for property insurance coverage.
- Additionally, having 8 to 15 members helps maintain a balance in house responsibilities, ensuring that tasks such as financial management and house chores are distributed fairly among residents.
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. Followed up on each house application and tracked down the individuals who had moved oxford sober living out. In 1975, Montgomery County, Maryland decided to close a traditional halfway house because of a lack of funds. However, the men living in that halfway house, including Oxford House’s founder Paul Molloy, were not ready to leave. While no one is ever asked to leave an Oxford House without cause, some individuals will simply outgrow living in an Oxford House. They will return to their families; they may start new families; they may simply move into another living situation.
Addictive Inhalation and Lung Cancer: A Comprehensive Study
There are six house officers in each Oxford House, elected by the members to support the operations of the house. Oxford House members share the house responsibilities and pitch in to do the chores. Explore how each house is supported by the broader Oxford House network. Find documents, templates, and everything residents need while living at an Oxford House.
Officers have fixed terms of office to avoid bossism or corruption of egalitarian democracy. Every member has an equal vote regardless of how long they’ve been there. Oxford Houses also facilitate job opportunities by helping residents connect with local employment resources, allowing them to rebuild their lives and regain independence. It provides quality control by organizing regional Houses into Chapters and by relying heavily upon the national network of mutual aid organizations such as Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous groups. While Oxford House is not affiliated with AA or NA, its members realize that recovery Substance Use Disorder can only be assured by the changing of their lifestyle through full participation in AA and NA.