House & Chapter Literature & Guidelines » Oxford Houses of Virginia

You have a lot more freedom than you would have in a halfway house, but you do have a curfew and are required to get a job and attend recovery meetings. And you absolutely cannot drink alcohol in any form, use illicit drugs, or abuse any prescriptions. Oxford Houses are supposed to be self-run, democratic, group-type homes for people who are in recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction.

Oxford House was founded not only to put a roof over our head, but also to create a home where the disease of alcoholism was understood and the need for the alcoholic to stay away from the first drink was emphasized. The bond that holds the group together is the desire to stop drinking and stay stopped. Modest rooms and living facilities can become luxurious suites when viewed from an environment of alcoholics working together for comfortable sobriety. 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. Once the resident gains a solid foundation, they will transition to less structured or basic sober living. At the Sober Living, they may have a later curfew or no curfew and the other rules will be less intensive.

Oxford House Colorado

Later that year, the halfway house would close due to financial difficulty, and Molloy and the other residents took over the lease. They chose the name Oxford House in recognition of Oxford Group, a religious organization that influenced the founders of AA. Oxford House has as its primary goal the provision of housing and rehabilitative support for the alcoholic and drug addict who wants to stop drinking or using drugs and stay stopped.

The goal is to build self-help, self-efficacy, and a sense of responsibility through this democracy system. Those who have benefited from an Oxford House have acquired enthusiasm for the Oxford House concept. In their enthusiasm, they have been anxious to share Oxford House with any recovering alcoholics and drug addicts who want to establish an Oxford House in their community. During the last days of our drinking or using drugs, most of us ceased to function as responsible individuals. 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.

Using Outdoor Adventures to Inspire Addiction Recovery

This not only helps those individuals to become more involved in AA or NA, and thereby reap greater individual benefits, but also helps to build strong bonds between local AA and NA groups and Oxford House. Oxford House should remain forever non-professional, although individual members may be encouraged to utilize outside professionals whenever such utilization is likely to enhance recovery from alcoholism. Each Oxford House should be financially self-supporting although financially secure houses may, with approval or encouragement of Oxford House, Inc., provide new or financially needy houses a loan for a term not to exceed one year. No member of an Oxford House is ever asked to leave without cause — a dismissal vote by the membership because of drinking, drug use, or disruptive behavior. Oxford Houses are found in 42 states and 383 cities in the US and in 2008 served 9,825 people. It has been found that members use numerous strategies to address behavioral problems, including by providing rewards for the successful achievement of specified goals. Additionally, the self-governing policies found in Oxford Houses help to create and nurture abstinence-specific social support networks.

There are two key factors credited for the low rate of recidivism of Oxford House residents. This continuity fosters a feeling that is truly familial, rather than institutional. By the time what is an oxford house many of us had stopped drinking, we had lost jobs; we had lost families, and some of us either had no place to live or no place to live which was not an invitation to start drinking again.

Welcome to North Carolina Oxford Houses

Members are elected each year at the Oxford House World Convention. 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.

Each residence typically houses an average of eight adults, but because Oxford Houses are completely peer-run, capacity can vary according to resident desires and comfort. Encourages attendance at evidence-based support meetings, such as 12-step programs.