Oxford House Red River Alexandria, LA

People who reside in these homes come from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, reflecting the non-discriminatory nature of substance use disorders. Men and women separately reside in gender-specific homes at Oxford Houses. Thirty-two Oxford Houses in Texas are designated as “Women with Children” homes, while four house men with children.

Having time to become comfortable in sobriety might be the single most important part of the Oxford House success story. Oxford Houses are rented family houses where groups of recovering individuals live together in an environment supportive to recovery from addiction. Each house is self-run and financially self-supported following a standardized system of democratic operation. Each group obtains a Charter from Oxford House Inc., which is the umbrella organization for the international network of individual Oxford Houses. In general, individuals with a history of vagrancy, incarceration or inadequate social support are at high risk of relapse. But sober living homes can be beneficial for anyone in recovery who does not have a supportive, substance-free environment to go home to. Halfway houses are technically sober living environments, but there are many differences between halfway houses for people transitioning out of incarceration and sober homes for people in recovery from addiction.

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Beginning steps involve admitting powerlessness over the addiction and creating a spiritual basis for recovery. Middle steps including making direct amends to those who’ve been hurt by the addiction, and the final step is to assist others in addiction recovery in the same way. 12-Step offshoots including Narcotics Anonymous , Cocaine Anonymous , Dual Recovery Anonymous , Sex and Love Addicts Anonymous and Gamblers Anonymous .

They are also commonly known as sober houses, recovery homes, halfway houses or recovery residences. We currently have received NIH support to begin researching individuals leaving jail and prison with substance abuse problems. This line of research could be expanded to other levels or target groups, such as men and women with substance abuse returning from foreign wars in Iraqi and Afghanistan. Reports of post-traumatic illnesses what is an oxford house and substance abuse among returning veterans suggests that cost effective programs like Oxford House need closer federal attention. Our group has recently received a federal grant to explore this new type of culturally modified recovery home. 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.

What Do Oxford Houses Offer?

The application is then considered by the membership of the House and if there is a vacancy and if 80% of the members approve, the applicant is accepted and moves in. If an applicant does not get voted into one house he or she should try another house in the area. This allows an individual to focus on establishing a new set of personal values that center around sobriety.

Regrettably, there are few studies reporting differential outcome data contrasting recovery home and therapeutic community residential treatments for substance abuse. In part, this is due to the fact that it is hard to provide systemic long-term outcome data on these hard to reach, highly recidivist populations. One of the largest examples of a community-based, mutual-help residential community for high risk substance abuse individuals is Oxford House.

The Pros and Cons of Different Types of Sober Living Programs

All of a sober house’s residents are expected to pursue better health and a substance-free life. Erik, in recovery from addiction, discusses his support system and how staying in a sober living environment helped him. All they need to do is to find a house to rent in the name of the group, and apply to Oxford House, Inc., for a charter. Results indicated a high sustainability rate (86.9%) during a six year period of time. Houses that remained open had significantly higher incomes of residents than houses that eventually closed. No other significant differences were found between the two groups of houses, including sense of community among residents, neighborhood or policy characteristics, and house age.