Oxford House Traditions Overview PDF Alcoholics Anonymous Alcoholism

This vision challenged conventional approaches, placing trust and responsibility directly in the hands of those seeking recovery. A long-running study by Chicago’s DePaul University shows that people completing one year of residency maintain a sobriety rate as high as 80 percent. It is not unusual that an individual who gets rejected at one house applies at another house with an opening and gets accepted. If a house votes to accept you, you can tell them whether or not you accept the invitation to move in. Alternatively, if you’d like to send your application to all houses near you that have an opening, you can Apply Online.

Democratically self-run

• This vision challenged conventional approaches, placing trust and responsibility directly in the hands of those seeking recovery.
• This creates a sense of ownership and shared accountability, crucial components when living in sober housing like an Oxford House.
• Financial responsibility is another key aspect; each person is expected to pay rent and contribute to household expenses.
• However, the men living in that halfway house, including Oxford House’s founder Paul Molloy, were not ready to leave.
• Each House represents a remarkably effective and low cost method of preventing relapse.

By running Oxford House on a democratic basis, members of Oxford House become able to accept the authority of the group because the group is a peer group. 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. 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 either men or women with children. Oxford Houses flourish in metropolitan areas such as New York City and Washington D.C. And thrive in such diverse communities as Kansas, Hawaii, Washington State, Canada and Australia; but they all abide by the basic criteria.

Recovery Literature: Shared Wisdom on the Path

With passage of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988, expansion of Oxford Houses exploded. During the early 1990s dozens of communities sought to close Oxford Houses located in good neighborhoods because local zoning ordinances restricted the number of unrelated individuals that could live together in a single-family home. 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 out. The article discusses a challenge in Columbia Heights related to zoning regulations that may threaten the program citywide.

The Oxford House Model provides a community based, supportive, and sober living environment.

We were not only dependent upon alcohol and/or drugs, but were also dependent on many others for continuing our alcoholic and/or drug addicted ways. When we stopped drinking or using drugs, we began to realize just how dependent we had become. For those of us who had been in institutions or half-way houses, resentments against authority were common. This accountability extends to all aspects of life within the house, from contributing to chores and maintaining a job to adhering to house rules and participating in meetings.

• In deference to that tradition, Oxford House has never sought nor obtained sponsorship from any AA or NA group.
• The article explores the challenges and debates surrounding the concept, emphasizing the transformative impact it has had on residents’ lives.
• An Oxford House Chapter is an additional level of support for individual Oxford Houses.
• In Oxford House, each member equally shares the responsibility for the running of the House and upholding the Oxford House tradition.
• Rotating leadership also ensures that a variety of perspectives are considered when making decisions that affect the entire house.
• He moved to a county-run halfway house in Silver Spring, MD, to recover but soon learned that the facility was about to close.

Self-Support: Empowering Financial Independence

This fosters empathy, collaboration, and a stronger sense of ownership within the community. This book provides residents with a deeper understanding of the self-governing and self-supporting nature of the Oxford House. They offer a framework for understanding oxford house addiction, developing coping mechanisms, and building a life free from substance abuse.