Second, every resident would contribute equally to the expenses and household duties. The Oxford House Model provides a unique and successful system of operations that differs from traditional sober living homes and halfway houses. You can stay as long as you like, provided you don’t use drugs and alcohol, are not disruptive, and pay your share of house expenses. 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. One can only be dismissed from an Oxford House because of drinking, using drugs, non-payment of rent, or disruptive behavior. Every opportunity should be given to a member who needs professional help to see that he obtains it.

• In 1975, Montgomery County, Maryland decided to close a traditional halfway house because of a lack of funds.
• Living within an Oxford House provides both the opportunity and motivation for all residents to regularly attend AA and/or NA meetings.
• Second, every resident would contribute equally to the expenses and household duties.
• Repayment from those start-up loans assures the continuation of the revolving fund to enable other new houses to get started — just as repayment of loans to chapters permits the same resources to be used again and again.
• View and download the latest House and Chapter Manuals, along with other forms used to conduct weekly house meetings.

The Oxford House Model provides a community based, supportive, and sober living environment.

Rent your home as an Oxford House and become a vital part in our mission to save lives. Any member who drinks alcohol or uses drugs will be immediately expelled. Each member pays EES (Equal Expense Share) which includes the total amount of rent due for the month, utilities and basic staples for the house. It is not easy to spread the word of a new concept or an old concept with a new twist. Propagation, or spreading the word, of the Oxford House concept is given the highest priority by the members of Oxford House. In deference to that tradition, Oxford House has never sought nor obtained sponsorship from any AA or NA group.

Oxford House Manual: Chapter Manual: Sharing the Experience, Strength, and Hope of Oxford Houses for the Common Good

All Oxford Houses have been careful to avoid undo dependence on government or other outside funds. „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.“

Oxford House gave me the opportunity to practice the principles and action. Generally an individual comes into an Oxford House following a 28-day rehabilitation program or at least a 5 to 10 day detoxification program. The average stay is about a year, but many members stay three, four, or more years. Be honest and straight-forward when sharing the Oxford House concept with others. Repayment from those start-up loans assures the continuation of the revolving fund to enable other new houses to get started — just as repayment of loans to chapters permits the same resources to be used again and again.

• They will return to their families; they may start new families; they may simply move into another living situation.
• Oxford House should rely on democratically-chosen leaders, but the leaders must always be but trusted servants.
• The reason that each Oxford House is independent arises from the very practical consideration that those who are closest to a situation are best able to manage it.

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. The Oxford House Model provides community based, supportive, and sober living environment. For a couple of months in 1975, he found himself living on the streets and begging strangers for money before he entered a rehabilitation program. He moved to a county-run halfway house in Silver Spring, MD, to recover but soon learned that the facility was about to close. The situation should be avoided whereby certain individuals will begin to equate their persuasive qualities with the Oxford House concept. A major part of the Oxford House philosophy is that dependency is best overcome through an acceptance of responsibility.

Oxford Houses are self-run, self-supported homes for individuals in recovery from a Substance Use Disorder.

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.

Business meetings

Other members were asked to leave halfway houses in order to make room for a recovering alcoholic or recovering drug addict who was ready to move into a halfway house. Each individual recovers from alcoholism or drug addiction at a different pace. All too often, an abrupt transition from a protected environment to an environment which places considerable glamour on the use of alcohol and drugs causes a return to alcoholic drinking or addictive drug use. Failure to adhere to any of these three requirements would bring the entire Oxford House concept into question.

Our officers oxford house traditions are but trusted servants serving continuous periods of no longer than six months in any one office. 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. View and download the latest House and Chapter Manuals, along with other forms used to conduct weekly house meetings.

Drug and alcohol free

Initially, the structure and supervision of such facilities were acceptable because physically and mentally, we were exhausted. Later, some of us were to move into half-way houses which provided shelter, food, and supervision. As our recovery progressed, the supervision and dependency on a halfway house created dissatisfaction. The dissatisfaction was in part the realization that we were shirking responsibility for our own lives and in part a resentment of authority.

However, there is every reason to believe that recovering alcoholics and drug addicts can do for themselves that which society as a whole has no responsibility to do for them. Oxford House is built on the premise of expanding in order to meet the needs of recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. This principle contrasts sharply with the principle of providing the alcoholic or drug addict with assistance for a limited time period in order to make room for a more recently recovering alcoholic or drug addict. In fact, Oxford House creates an environment whereby each member can more fully realize the benefits available from active AA or NA membership.

Support our Cause

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. Each Oxford House should be financially self-supporting although financially secure houses may, with approval or encouragement of Oxford House, Inc., provide new or financially needy houses a loan for a term not to exceed one year. Instead of being left to their own fates, Mr. Molloy and other residents decided to take over the house themselves, paying the expenses and utilities, cooking the meals and keeping watch over one another’s path to recovery.

The only members who will ever be asked to leave an Oxford House are those who return to drinking, using drugs, or have disruptive behavior, including the nonpayment of rent. No Oxford House can tolerate the use of alcohol or drugs by one of its members because that threatens the sobriety of all of the members. Neither can an Oxford House function if some do not pay their fair share of the costs. Nearly all members of Oxford House utilize the AA and/or NA program in order to obtain and keep a comfortable sobriety. However, an Oxford House relies primarily upon example for assuring a high percentage of AA and/or NA attendance from its members. As a general rule formal AA or NA meetings are not held in an Oxford House member who has maintained comfortable sobriety in an Oxford House makes it a practice to attend a lot of AA and/or NA meetings on a regular basis.

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.