» The Characteristics & Effectiveness of Oxford House Recovery Residences: 2010 Review

Today, most sober homes are unregulated, but some homes are part of larger organizations such as Oxford House, the Florida Association of Recovery Residences or the New Jersey Alliance of Recovery Residences. It includes building relationships, supporting others and practicing healthy ways to overcome triggers. If you are a recovering individual and would like to learn more about Oxford House, visit the Oxford House web site. For information about our houses and to apply for membership in a house, go to the “Our Houses” page. Any resident who drinks alcohol or uses drugs must be immediately expelled. Oxford Houses are part of a publicly supported, non-profit 5013 corporation umbrella organization which provides the network of all Oxford Houses and allocates resources to duplicate the Oxford House concept where needs arise. Zywiak WH, Longabaugh R, Wirtz PW. Decomposing the relationships between pretreatment social network characteristics and alcohol treatment outcome. Moos RH. Theory-based processes that promote the remission of substance use disorders. Inciardi JA, Martin SS, Butzin CA. Five-year outcomes of Therapeutic Community Treatment of drug-involved offenders after release from prison.

Using this cost-effective method to improve the chances of recovery from alcoholism and drug addiction, may be the best way to show the community that recovery works and that recovering individuals can become model citizens. Depending on the city, neighborhood and services offered, rent can range from $300 to $2,000 per month. Some sober homes do not require residents to pay utility bills, but utilities may be rationed to avoid waste. The services, rent, rules and living conditions at sober living homes vary from place to place. Some homes are part of a behavioral health care system where residents live next to a rehab clinic, participate in outpatient therapy and have access to the clinic’s recreational activities. The National Alliance or Recovery Residence has issued a set of standards for recovery residences.

Typical Day at a Sober Living Home

We worked with the needs of diverse groups, including ex-offenders, minority groups including Native Americans, and women and women with children. Our efforts involved a commitment to collaborative research with a grass-roots organization, assessing change at multiple levels with a multidisciplinary team of economists, biostatisticians, social, developmental, clinical and community psychologists. The transition back to life outside of rehab is fraught with the potential for relapse. Aftercare resources such as 12-step groups, sober living homes and support for family and friends promote a life rich with rewarding relationships and meaning. The four travelled out of town to a 12-step meeting, where Kelley purchased drugs from an acquaintance. Both Jamie and the 2 gentlemen from the structured sober living were unaware that Kelley bought heroin, but after they returned to town and dropped off their friends, Jamie confronted Kelley about her odd behavior that evening. Kelley confessed to Jamie that she had been using for over a week while living in her Oxford house and offered Jamie some of the heroin. Jamie used after 8 months of clean time, overdosed and was transported to the hospital. 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.

Once you leave Oxford housing, you will already have the foundation set for your new life. Using the contact information for the house you’ve chosen, call and set up an interview. Each house conducts its own interviews and votes on admitting new members. I showed up on their doorstep in April 2013, battered and broken from a recent relapse. Today, due to the firm foundation I was able to build by living in Oxford, I have amassed over 4 years of continuous recovery. If it worked for a hopeless/helpless addict like me, it can work for you as well.”

Oxford Housing

The chapter currently includes three houses with a total capacity of 26 residents. Oxford House Ayers houses seven men, Oxford House Lena houses nine women, and Oxford House Joe Prott houses ten men. These three Oxford Hoses are all male facilities, self-run, and self-supported recovery houses for recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. Oxford House Judy is Kenosha’s peer run safe & sober residence for women recovering from addictions. ​Oxford House Lena is Kenosha’s peer run safe & sober residence for women recovering from addictions. Jason LA, Ferrari JR, Smith B, Marsh P, Dvorchak PA, Groessi EJ, Pechota ME, Curtin M, Bishop PD, Kot E, Bowden BS. An exploratory study of male recovering substance abusers living in a self-help, self-governed setting.

You’ll also see addresses, contact information, and whether a house has a vacancy. We recommend calling both numbers listed as one number is for the house and the other is for the person who will be setting up your interview. A model of peer run recovery houses, in New York there are currently Oxford houses for men and for women. NAMI Kenosha has been a major advocate of the Kenosha/Racine Chapter of Oxford Houses .

Rules vary depending on each home or accrediting organization, but most sober living homes have several rules in common. Sober living homes are maintained through fees, and residents can usually stay as long as they want. Unlike many halfway houses, sober homes are not monitored by state agencies. Establishing a sober lifestyle is difficult during the early stages of recovery. You need somewhere safe you can go after treatment, a place where you’ll be free of triggers and surrounded by social support.
Oxford House participants earned roughly $550 more per month than participants in the usual care group. Annualizing this difference for the entire Oxford House sample corresponds to approximately $494,000 in additional benefits to those in the Oxford House condition. The lower rate of incarceration (3% versus 9%) in the study among Oxford House versus usual care participants corresponded to annualized savings for the Oxford House sample of roughly $119,000. Together, the productivity and incarceration benefits yield an estimated $613,000 in savings accruing to the Oxford House participants. An American Journal of Public Health study compared individuals who lived in a sober living home to those who only received outpatient treatment or attended self-help groups. In NARR homes, the goal is to protect the health of all residents, not to punish the resident experiencing relapse. In Oxford Houses, individuals who relapse cannot return until they complete a 28-day rehab program or complete treatment and demonstrate an ability to continually attend support group meetings.

Oxford Houses, however, were significantly more liberal in permitting residents personal liberties compared to the TC facilities. For example, Oxford Houses permitted greater flexibility in terms of residents’ smoking in their rooms, sleeping late in the morning or staying out late at night, going away for a weekend, and having “private time” in their locked room with guests. 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). When an individual struggling with a substance abuse disorder has been discharged from inpatient treatment, they usually leave with an aftercare plan. Aftercare can include many options such as attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, coming in once a week to see a therapist, or moving into a recovery home. At South Jersey Recovery Residences Oxford homes in NJ, residents live under the management and guidance of House Managers, Our House Managers help maintain the safety and drug-free environment of the house. For example, house managers will regularly administer and monitor drug tests for residents. Try to determine their optimism, willingness to offer support and motivation for remaining sober.

Colorado Crisis Services

This goal is honored, day-by-day, house-by-house, in Indiana and in each of our 2,900+ homes nationwide. Depaul University has a team of researchers that have been studying the Oxford House model for more than a decade. We are always adding NEW HOUSES and are dedicated members of recovery communities all across Florida. Substance Abuse Guide for Parents Find out what you can do to protect your children. The FY2021 Annual Report provides an overview of the work of Oxford House, Inc.

After treatment for substance abuse, whether by prison, hospital-based treatment programs, or therapeutic communities, many patients return to former high-risk environments or stressful family situations. Returning to these settings without a network of people to support abstinence increases chances of relapse (Jason, Olson & Foli, 2008). As a consequence, alcohol and substance use recidivism following treatment is high for both men and women (Montgomery et al., 1993). Alternative approaches need to be explored, such as abstinence-specific social support settings . Self-governed settings may offer several benefits as they require minimal costs because residents pay for their own expenses . Recovering substance abusers living in these types of settings may develop a strong sense of bonding with similar others who share common abstinence goals. Receiving abstinence support, guidance, and information from recovery home members committed to the goal of long-term sobriety and abstinence may reduce the probability of a relapse (Jason, Ferrari, Davis & Olson, 2006). This experience might provide residents with peers who model effective coping skills, be resources for information on how to maintain abstinence, and act as advocates for sobriety. These findings provide a challenge to psychologists working in the addiction field.

The Oxford Housing Structure in New Jersey

Additionally, residents must agree to a number of rules when they move in. Treatment for addiction takes many forms and depends on the needs of the individual. In accordance with the American Society of Addiction Medicine, we offer information on outcome-oriented treatment that adheres to an established continuum of care. In this section, you will find information and resources related to evidence-based treatment models, counseling and therapy and payment and insurance options. DrugRehab.com provides information regarding illicit and prescription drug addiction, the various populations at risk for the disease, current statistics and trends, and psychological disorders that often accompany addiction. You will also find information on spotting the signs and symptoms of substance use and hotlines for immediate assistance. This study found that 81.5% of the participants who left Oxford House residences, reported no substance use during the following 1 year. Jason LA, Olson BD, Ferrari JR, Layne A, Davis MI, Alvarez J. A case study of self-governance in a drug abuse recovery home. Hiller ML, Knight K, Simpson DD. Risk factors that predict dropout from corrections-based treatment for drug abuse.

Colorado is a rapidly growing state through replication and expansion of the number of Oxford Houses by demand. Our mission is to provide housing supported by the Oxford Model throughout all areas of the state for those in need, as well as contribute as a dedicated partner organization in support of unity and strength within the recovery community. A variety of other studies have also found that sober living homes appear to be an effective component of the recovery process. Laura Clarke of Advanced Recovery Systems talks about the importance of sober living environments during recovery from addiction. The best facilities employ compassionate staff and enforce strict rules that support the recovery process. All of a sober house’s residents are expected to pursue better health and a substance-free life. An Oxford House is a democratically run, self-supporting and drug-free home. There are houses for men, houses for women, and houses which accept women with children. The gender column indicates whether the house is for men , women , or women with children .

It developed four levels of support that can be used to characterize most sober living homes. Erik, in recovery from addiction, discusses his support system and how staying in a sober living environment helped him. These houses are even more problematic because it is almost impossible for providers to determine the health of the house. This is a major problem because while someone spends the time in addiction treatment doing what’s needed to get clean, they are then recommended to a house that is peer run, dirty and potentially has people using at it. Residents must only abide by the rules of the home, but if they ever use drugs or alcohol while a resident, they are immediately evicted. Residents may stay as long as they need to, although most stay about 1 year. Sober living homes are an effective resource for individuals who have completed treatment and are ready to begin their lives in recovery. They provide a balance of supervision and independence that allows people to transition back to work, school and daily life. Several factors determine length of stay, such as the severity of the addiction, a person’s history of substance abuse, their recovery progress, ability to follow rules and ability to pay rent. The daily schedule at sober living homes is heavily influenced by the residents’ current stage of recovery.

• If it worked for a hopeless/helpless addict like me, it can work for you as well.”
• Try to determine their optimism, willingness to offer support and motivation for remaining sober.
• This all could have been avoided if Kelley had not been getting away with using for as long as she did.
• Substantial reductions in recidivism rates have been found when in-prison Therapeutic Communities are combined with community transition programs (Hiller, Knight, & Simpson, 1999; Wexler et al., 1996).
• Sober living homes are known for strictly enforcing rules, and violations usually result in eviction.

There were only seventeen American Indian participants in our national NIDA study (Kidney, Alvarez, Jason, Ferrari, & Minich, 2009). Nevertheless, American Indians were no more likely to report more severe substance use, psychological problems, criminal histories, or lower incomes than other groups. In addition, American Indians were more likely to report being on parole or probation and being referred for aftercare by the legal system. Moreover, American Indians reported greater disharmony within their recovery residences than Caucasians, but there were no significant ethnic differences in length of stay in Oxford House. Within this large study, we analyzed psychiatric severity data such that we compared residents oxford sober houses with high versus low baseline psychiatric severity (Majer, Jason, North, Davis, Olson, Ferrari et al., 2008). No significant differences were found in relation to residents’ number of days in outpatient and residential psychiatric treatment, abstinence rates, and Oxford House residence status. These findings suggest that a high level of psychiatric severity is not an impediment to residing in self-run, self-help settings such as Oxford House among persons with psychiatric co-morbid substance use disorders. We do so by providing a clean, safe environment where individuals can begin rebuilding their lives. Furthermore, we support our residents’ goals and help them realize that sober living can be fun and fulfilling.

Oxford House offers self-help for recovery without relapse to members addicted to drugs and alcohol. In its simplest form, an Oxford House describes a self-run, self-supported recovery houses. Oxford House has as its primary goal the provision of housing and rehabilitative support Sober House for the alcoholic and drug addict who wants to stop drinking or using drugs and stay stopped. Encourages attendance at evidence-based support meetings, such as 12-step programs. In other homes, counselors or case managers visit on a regular basis to provide in-home services.

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. Our next large scale completed study received funding from the National Institute on Drug Abuse . This study examined abstinence-specific social support and successful abstention from substance use in a national sample of over 900 Oxford House residents. Results were quite positive; only 18.5% of the participants who left Oxford House during the course of the one-year study reported any substance use (Jason, Davis, Ferrari, & Anderson, 2007). Additionally, over the course of the study, increases were found in the percentage of their social networks who were abstainers or in recovery. Finally, latent growth curve analyses indicated that less support for substance use by significant others and time in Oxford House predicted change in cumulative abstinence over the course of the study. Unfortunately, there have not been any outcome studies comparing TCs with Oxford Houses, although the first author currently has a NIDA funded study that is exploring this issue.