The World Council is comprised of 12 members, 9 of which presently live in an Oxford House, 3 who are alumni. In carrying out its mission the Council always keeps a focus on expansion of the network of individual Oxford Houses, to provide all recovering alcoholics and drug addictions the opportunity to develop comfortable sobriety without relapse. Paul Molloy’s vision was to establish self-supporting, self-governed homes for recovering alcoholics and addicts across America. The article highlights the success of these houses, where recovering individuals work together, abide by simple rules, and maintain a drug-free environment.
The Oxford House Model provides a community based, supportive, and sober living environment.
To discourage an excessive dependence on leaders, it is a principle of Oxford House that no member should serve in the same office for a continuous period of longer than six months. They called their experiment in group living and joint sobriety Oxford House. It was the first step in a nationwide movement, now almost 50 years old, that has been credited with helping thousands of people overcome addiction and lead productive lives. This was the purpose of the first Oxford House established in 1975, and this purpose is served, day by day, house after house, in each of over 2,500 houses in the United States today.
- Once accepted, an Oxford House member can stay as long as they like, provided they stay drug and alcohol free, are not disruptive, and pay their share of house expenses.
- The Oxford House model suggests that there are alternative social approaches that can transcend the polarities that threaten our nation (Jason, 1997).
- For some, this involvement also included speaking at political events (16%), and attending community meetings (30%), and public hearings and forums (21%).
- All aspects of Oxford House operations, from the acquisition of the house to the acceptance or dismissal of members, is carried out under democratic procedures.
- Sit back, relax and enjoy some time overlooking Oxford Street on your balcony and savour the Paddington buzz.
World Council
The Oxford House model suggests that there are alternative social approaches that can transcend the polarities that threaten our nation (Jason, 1997). We believe that there is much potential in the Oxford House model for showing how intractable problems may be dealt with by actively involving the community. In 1987, the late Bill Spillane, Ph. D., who had retired from NIDA and was teaching at Catholic University School of Social Work in Washington, D.C. Followed up on each house application and tracked down the individuals who had moved out. ‘The risk that students will suffer by finding themselves studying and paying for courses for which they have no aptitude will be a very expensive mistake for them.
- They immediately decided to change the rule that limited a stay to six months because they had witnessed that when a person was required to leave because the time was up they almost always relapsed within thirty days of leaving.
- The members of the new house agree to utilize the Oxford House Model’s system of operations and Oxford House, Inc. issues a no-cost charter.
- Each House represents a remarkably effective and low cost method of preventing relapse.
- Oxford House will not charter a house with fewer than six individuals because experience has shown that it takes at least six individuals to form an effective group.
- Oxford House should rely on democratically-chosen leaders, but the leaders must always be but trusted servants.
- Yes, there are Oxford Houses in Canada, Australia and Ghana with active interest in England, Bulgaria and other countries.
America must fight its national gambling problem
The Oxford House Model provides community based, supportive, and sober living environment. We were also interested in exploring whether rates of crime increased in locations where there were Oxford Houses. We investigated crime rates in areas surrounding 42 Oxford Houses and 42 control houses in a large city (Deaner, Jason, Aase, & Mueller, 2009). A city-run Global Information Systems (GIS) website was used to gather crime data including assault, arson, burglary, larceny, robbery, sexual assault, homicide, and vehicle theft over a calendar year. Findings indicated that there were no significant differences between the crime rates around Oxford Houses and the control houses. These results suggest that well-managed and governed recovery homes pose minimal risks to neighbors in terms of criminal behavior.
In its simplest form, an Oxford House describes a democratically run, self-supporting and substance free home. Parallel to this concept lies the organizational structure of Oxford House, Inc. This publicly supported, non-profit 501(c)3 corporation is the umbrella organization which provides the network connecting all Oxford Houses and allocates resources to duplicate the Oxford House concept where needs arise. The number of residents in a House may range from six to fifteen; there are houses for men, houses for women, and houses which accept women with children. Oxford Houses flourish in metropolitan areas such as New York City and Washington D.C. And thrive in such diverse communities as Hawaii, Washington State, Canada and Australia; but they all abide by the basic criteria.
The majority of participants were involved in activities around their recovery. Forty-four percent of the sample was involved in administering and running support groups. 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 oxford house 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.
