We provide a safe, affordable living environment that is supportive to individuals in recovery from addiction. Clearly, it is important to improve the quality of the data for outcomes research with residential substance abuse treatment. Both NIDA and NIAAA have health services research study sections that are willing to review these types of applications. It is hoped that more researchers will consider developing grant proposals in this area, particularly as research focusing on the solution of applied problems is becoming a larger priority area for the federal government. With adequate funding, large clinical trials can emerge and adequate personnel can be employed for the arduous task of tracking over time these at-risk samples.

• Our next large scale completed study received funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse .
• These findings provide a challenge to psychologists working in the addiction field.
• The charter of each Oxford House requires that an Oxford House meet certain minimum requirements of Oxford House, Inc.
• Additionally, the self-governing policies found in Oxford Houses help to create and nurture abstinence-specific social support networks.
• Within our sample, 58.4% were Caucasian, 34.0% were African American, 3.5% were Hispanic, and 4% were other.
• The Oxford House model suggests that there are alternative social approaches that can transcend the polarities that threaten our nation .

Other general community activities reported by participants included working with youth (32%), fundraising (30%), and volunteering time with community organizations (23%). These findings indicate that Oxford House residents are not only working on their own recovery, but also working to make positive changes in their communities. Less than 4% of our sample with Hispanic, and this led us to examine possible reasons for this under-representation. Alvarez, Jason, Davis, Ferrari, and Olson interviewed nine Hispanic/Latino men and three what is an oxford house Hispanic/Latina women living in Oxford House. Only two individuals were familiar with Oxford House prior to entering residential treatment; the others had never heard about the program. Participants decided to move to an Oxford House based on information they received from counselors and peers indicating that Oxford House would facilitate their recovery. Prior to entering Oxford House, participants were concerned that House policies would be similar to those of half-way houses they had experienced (i.e., too restrictive).

Housing, Mental Health, Substance Use

And thrive in such diverse communities as Hawaii, Washington State, Canada and Australia; but they all abide by the basic criteria. Oxford is a mixed-gender community https://ecosoberhouse.com/ made up of seven small apartment houses. It’s in a woodsy, quiet residential neighborhood and is just a six-block walk or a quick bus ride to Central Campus.

Vaillant noted that environmental factors may be key contributors to whether or not individuals maintain abstinence, and these factors include the support one receives for abstinence among their support networks. Investment in abstinence-specific social support was reported to be one of the best post-treatment prognostic indicators of recovery (Longabaugh et al., 1995; Zywiak, Longabaugh & Wirtz, 2002). Half the individuals interviewed also had concerns about being the only Hispanic/Latino House member.

Typical Day at a Sober Living Home

Neither type of facility permitted self-injurious behaviors (e.g., physical self-harm or misuse of medication) or destructive acts (e.g., destroying site property or others’ possessions). Oxford Houses, however, were significantly more liberal in permitting residents personal liberties compared to the TC facilities. Oxford Houses also were more likely than TCs to allow residents to have personal possessions (e.g., pictures, furniture) within the dwelling (Ferrari, Jason, Sasser et al., 2006). There appear to be considerable standardization of locations of Oxford Houses as well as what occurs in these settings (Ferrari, Groh & Jason, 2009). These results, in fact, were replicated in Australian Oxford Houses (Ferrari, Jason, Blake et al., 2006). Encourages attendance at evidence-based support meetings, such as 12-step programs. If the house provides transportation, residents will meet at a set time to attend school, work or outpatient treatment.

Belyaev-Glantsman O, Jason LA, Ferrari JR. The relationship of gender and ethnicity to employment among adults residing in communal-living recovery homes. Aase DM, Jason LA, Olson BD, Majer JM, Ferrari JR, Davis MI, Virtue SM. A longitudinal analysis of criminal and aggressive behaviors among a national sample of adults in mutual-help recovery homes. The present article addresses the primary outcome studies conducted on one form of recovery home called Oxford House. We also examine whether settings such as Oxford Houses have an impact on their greater community. Finally, the implications for how clinicians might work with these types of community support settings will be reviewed. Residents may first move into homes with high levels of support and then transition to homes with lower levels of support.

Oxford House information

Often several members of an existing House will move into the new House to provide a core group of new members who already know how an Oxford House works. The opportunity for a house to democratically function requires periodic meetings within the house — at least once a week.

• Hiller ML, Knight K, Simpson DD. Risk factors that predict dropout from corrections-based treatment for drug abuse.
• It’s in a woodsy, quiet residential neighborhood and is just a six-block walk or a quick bus ride to Central Campus.
• An Oxford House usually needs six to ten house members to make rent affordable.
• Oxford is a mixed-gender community made up of seven small apartment houses.
• We collected data at the individual, house, and state levels, and at times compared data over these different levels of analysis.

Oxford House facilities are the best examples of Level I sober living homes. They’re the most common type of sober living home in the United States. The houses are run by residents and emphasize peer support as an essential component of recovery.

Oxford House of Virginia Mission

A house full of sober, recovering alcoholics and drug addicts invites informal AA or NA “meetings after the meeting” and each day finds many informal AA or NA meetings before individual members each go off to their regular AA or NA meeting. By the time 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. 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. Democratically-run, self-supportive housing for alcoholics and addicts who have stopped using and want to stay stopped.