Every member has an equal vote regardless of how long they’ve been there. While no one is ever asked to leave an Oxford House without cause, some individuals will simply outgrow living in an Oxford House. They will return to their families; they may start new families; they may simply move into another living situation. Individuals living in each of the Oxford Houses have also been responsible for starting many new groups of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous having meetings near an Oxford House.

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The third factor affecting us both in the rehabilitation facilities and the halfway houses was the realization that the duration of our stay must be limited because space must be made for others in need of help. 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. For those of us who had been in institutions or halfway houses, resentments against authority were common. Oxford House has as its primary goal the provision of housing and rehabilitative support for the alcoholic or drug addict who wants to stop drinking or using and stay stopped.

• 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.
• Those facilities provided us with shelter, food, and therapy for understanding alcoholism.
• Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous provided a framework for us to change physically, mentally, and spiritually.
• Propagation, or spreading the word, of the Oxford House concept is given the highest priority by the members of Oxford House.
• Oxford Houses are dedicated to recovery and group support; not individual gain.

sober

One of the greatest threats to the sobriety of a recovering alcoholic or drug addict is loneliness. At a time when we acquired a serious desire to stop drinking or using drugs, many of us had lost our families and friends because of our alcoholism and/or drug addiction. Too often, newly recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are faced with the necessity of living alone and of relying solely on contacts with Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous to stay sober. Some are able to keep from drinking in spite of the loneliness with which they were faced. The alcoholic or drug addict alone begins to compare himself to those members of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous who still have family and friends. Loneliness and self-pity soon lead such individuals back to alcoholic drinking or drug sober house use.

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Oxford House members value the Sixth Tradition of Alcoholics Anonymous (and Narcotics Anonymous) too greatly for themselves to try to get either movement deeply involved in the organizing, financing, or sponsorship of any Oxford House. However, Oxford House members firmly believe that the Oxford House concept can expand as an independent entity, while fully utilizing the benefits of Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous. “An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest Problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.” Every Oxford House member attributes his sobriety to Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous. Each Oxford House member, as an individual, considers himself a member of AA and/or NA. Each Oxford House should be autonomous except in matters affecting other houses or Oxford House, Inc., as a whole.

Paul Molloy was a young lawyer on Capitol Hill who had a key role in drafting legislation that created Amtrak and other federal programs. He was also an alcoholic whose drinking would eventually cost him his job, his family and his home. I just had to follow the rules, get along with everyone, and work on my recovery.

Drug and alcohol free

Some houses collect EES from its members on a monthly basis while many houses choose to collect EES on a weekly basis. This monthly or weekly amount varies from state to state and house to house and can range anywhere from $125 a week to $250 a week. When you call a house to set up an interview you can ask them how much their EES is. It continues to stand the test of time as a leading model in sober living. Oxford Houses are democratically self-run by the members who elect officers to serve for terms of six months. House officers have term limits to avoid bossism or corruption of egalitarian democracy.

• Learn what makes Oxford House stand out as a unique model for recovery housing.
• Every Oxford House member attributes his sobriety to Alcoholics Anonymous and/or Narcotics Anonymous.
• Residents democratically make their voices heard through the individual houses, the Chapters, the World Council and the Oxford House, Inc.
• In 1975, Montgomery County, Maryland decided to close a traditional halfway house because of a lack of funds.
• Any member who drinks alcohol or uses drugs will be immediately expelled.

Followed up on each house application and tracked down the individuals who had moved out. 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. Rent your home as an Oxford https://yourhealthmagazine.net/article/addiction/sober-houses-rules-that-you-should-follow/ House and become a vital part in our mission to save lives. Any member who drinks alcohol or uses drugs will be immediately expelled.

Throughout its tradition, Oxford House has combined the concepts of self-support and responsibility with a fellowship having the common purpose of continued and comfortable sobriety. Oxford House must always have as its Primary goal the provision of housing and rehabilitative support for the alcoholic who wants to stop drinking and stay stopped and the drug addict who wants to stop using drugs and stay stopped. In fact, Oxford House creates an environment whereby each member can more fully realize the benefits available from active AA or NA membership. 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. An underlying principle of Oxford House is that each individual member has the ability to be responsible for himself.

Democratically self-run

• The average stay is about a year, but many members stay three, four, or more years.
• The alcoholic or drug addict alone begins to compare himself to those members of Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous who still have family and friends.
• Find documents, templates, and everything residents need while living at an Oxford House.
• Too often, newly recovering alcoholics and drug addicts are faced with the necessity of living alone and of relying solely on contacts with Alcoholics Anonymous and Narcotics Anonymous to stay sober.
• In fact, Oxford House creates an environment whereby each member can more fully realize the benefits available from active AA or NA membership.
• The rules which govern the house are for the most part also made by those who live in a particular Oxford House Such autonomy is essential for the Oxford House system to work.

This manual describes how chapters work and are organized to strengthen the world network of Oxford Houses. While Oxford House, Inc. has the sole authority to grant Oxford House charters, the World Council acts as an advisory council to the board. For more than twenty-five years, a DePaul University-based research team has been involved in studying Oxford Houses in order to better understand the role they play in substance abuse recovery. The national scope of Oxford House and its long history makes it the only recovery house system that has been the subject of so much independent research. Each member pays EES (Equal Expense Share) which includes the total amount of rent due for the month as well as the cost of utilities, telephone, cable TV and any other expenses that the house includes in its common expenditures.