Involvement around recovery also included involvement in large community initiatives, as 39% of participants reported involvement in informing or advising agencies or local leaders and 32% reported involvement in community anti-drug campaigns. For some, this involvement also included speaking at political events (16%), and attending community meetings (30%), and public hearings and forums (21%). 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. We were also interested in exploring whether rates of crime increased in locations where there were Oxford Houses.

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. In this same study, we examined the combined effects of 12-step involvement and Oxford House residence on abstinence over a 24-month period (Groh, Jason & Ferrari, 2009). Among individuals with high 12-step involvement, the addition of Oxford House residence significantly increased the rates of abstinence (87.5% vs. 52.9%). Results suggested that the joint effectiveness of these mutual-help programs may promote abstinence and extended our previous research indicating that OH residents frequently engage in 12-step program use (Nealon-Woods, Ferrari, & Jason, 1997). Oxford Recovery Houses appear to provide an effective and inexpensive alternative for many individuals seeking recovery. The findings also suggest that Oxford Houses may be appropriate for a variety of individuals with an assortment of needs and that living in a substance-free environment without restrictions on length of stay may help individuals remain abstinent. In a different study, Jason and Ferrari also examined abstinence-specific social support and successful abstention from substance use in a national sample of more than 900 Oxford House residents.

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

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). 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.

• In the past 90 days, the sample had an average of 1 day of residential treatment for psychiatric problems and an average of 3 sessions with a counselor for psychiatric problems.
• They worried about a possible increase in crime, about the visitors who might be frequenting the neighborhood, about the potential for relapse.
• For the following reasons, we conclude that defendants are entitled to judgment under that standard.
• Oxford House is a concept in recovery from drug and alcohol addiction.
• A study published in the Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment found sober living home residents experienced improvements in arrest rates, alcohol and drug use rates, and employment rates.

Access to services and levels of care pertinent to your stage of recovery. Encourages attendance at evidence-based support meetings, such as 12-step programs. Zywiak WH, Longabaugh R, Wirtz PW. Decomposing the relationships between pretreatment social network characteristics and alcohol treatment outcome. Parsons M, Warner-Robbins C. Formerly incarcerated women create healthy lives through participatory action research. Olson BD, Jason LA, Davidson M, Ferrari JR. Increases in tolerance within naturalistic, self-help recovery homes. Jason LA, Schober D, Olson BD. Community involvement among second-order change recovery homes. Jason LA, Ferrari JR, Freeland M, Danielewicz J, Olson BD. Observing organizational and interaction behaviors among mutual-help recovery home members.

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The Oxford House manual states that charters are granted to people who themselves have beaten addiction. “Two or more recovering alcoholics can apply for a charter from Oxford House, Inc., by completing an application for a charter or simply writing a letter containing the pertinent information to Oxford House World Services,” the guide states. Now the city is poised to become the first in this region to enter the fray against a group known as Oxford House, which through its more than 2,000 homes nationwide says it seeks what is a oxford house to provide transitional housing to recovering addicts and alcoholics. An Oxford House is a democratically run, self-supporting, drug-free home. There are houses for men, houses for women, and houses which accept women with children. The Oxford House Bayliss Park has a total occupancy of 8, and is a sober house for men. Using this cost-effective way to improve the chances of recovery from addiction may be the best way to show the community that recovery works and that recovering addicts can become model citizens.

Each House represents a remarkably effective and low cost method of preventing relapse. This allows an individual to focus on establishing a new set of personal values that center around sobriety. It allows the individual to practice the skills of responsible family and community living with their new Oxford House family. There is no in-house treatment or requirement to attend a specific recovery program, but 12-step participation is popular in Oxford Houses. A new house member must be interviewed by current residents and must receive an 80 percent vote of approval to be accepted. 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. Our community offers unique perspectives on lifelong recovery and substance use prevention, empowering others through stories of strength and courage. From people in active recovery to advocates who have lost loved ones to the devastating disease of addiction, our community understands the struggle and provides guidance born of personal experience. Belyaev-Glantsman O, Jason LA, Ferrari JR. The relationship of gender and ethnicity to employment among adults residing in communal-living recovery homes.

About Oxford House – University City

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. Economic data also were supportive for participants in the Oxford House condition over the course of the two-year study. 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. Limited research, however, is available regarding how Oxford House settings compare to other treatments. Using cross sectional data, Ferrari, Jason, Davis, Olson, and Alvarez compared the operational policies of 55 Oxford Houses to those of 14 Therapeutic Communities . 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.

Sober houses require residents to have already completed treatment and to abstain from alcohol and drug use. Of course, no one particular type of treatment setting is appropriate for all individuals. Individuals early in their recovery or with particular interpersonal characteristics might need more of a structured and professionally-led milieu in order to maintain abstinence given the freedoms that are provided in Oxford Houses. In the past 90 days, the sample had an average of 1 day of residential treatment for psychiatric problems and an average of 3 sessions with a counselor for psychiatric problems.

Participants

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. As of 2008, there were 321 women’s Oxford Houses with 2,337 women, and 982 men’s Oxford Houses with 7,487 men, for a total of 1,303 houses serving 9,824 people . Of the residents, 18% were veterans, and 91% were working with average monthly earnings of $1,480. Most residents had been addicted to drugs or drugs and alcohol (73%) whereas 27% had been addicted to only alcohol. Regarding marital status, 45% had been never married, 18% were separated, 33% were divorced, and only 4% were married. Fifty-three percent of residents reported prior homelessness for an average time of 6 months. Since 1995, the Oxford House Foundation has helped hundreds of people suffering from alcohol and drug addictions rebuild their lives.

There is considerable evidence for the effectiveness of TCs (DeLeon, & Rosenthal, 1989). 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). Unfortunately, these TC programs often create a financial burden on society, and are not available to all that need them. Also, therapeutic community residents may stay only for a limited time before many return to former high-risk environments Sober House or stressful family situations . Oxford Houses are supposed to be self-run, democratic, group-type homes for people who are in recovery from drug and/or alcohol addiction. “Social” means, among other things, “involving allies or confederates.” Webster’s at 2161. In light of the above “confederation” discussion, defendants are organizations involving confederates in the battle against addiction. “Social” also can be understood to mean “of, relating to, or concerned with the welfare of human beings as members of society.” Id.

That’s the number that worries Satterthwaite, who spoke with Kent and met with the mayor of Cherry Hill to raise his concerns. He’s now pushing legislators to change the Fair Housing Act of 1988 to require Oxford residents to undergo criminal background checks, drug testing and periodic supervision. “We support these people, we want them to do well, we want them to fully recover,” he added. “But there should be some oversight, and there should be some proof of sobriety, some 12-step program …” At first, the discovery alarmed the Satterthwaites, who both grew up in Philadelphia and sought to raise their two children in the suburbs. They worried about a possible increase in crime, about the visitors who might be frequenting the neighborhood, about the potential for relapse.