Oxford Houses of Virginia » Oxford Houses of Virginia

The term Oxford House refers to any house operating under the “Oxford House Model”, a community-based approach to addiction recovery, which provides an independent, supportive, and sober living environment. Today there are nearly 3,000 Oxford Houses in the United States and other countries. MORE ON STUDY METHODS Apart from the initial random assignment to each of these conditions, participants were free to engage in other recovery support services as they wished. Thus, after individuals assigned to the Oxford House condition were brought to one of 20 residences across the state, current members voted on whether they could become a resident, as per Oxford House policy. Only one research participant was rejected by vote initially, though research staff subsequently brought this person to another house, who approved his/her residence.

• The daily schedule at sober living homes is heavily influenced by the residents’ current stage of recovery.
• We found that larger house sizes of 8 to 10 residents corresponded with less criminal and aggressive behavior.
• At South Jersey Recovery Residences, our goal is to support a healthy lifestyle.

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 what is an oxford house 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 Living Home & Oxford House Rules

Within this large study, we analyzed psychiatric severity data such that we compared residents with high versus low baseline psychiatric severity (Majer, Jason, North, Davis, Olson, Ferrari et al., 2008). 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. Recovery residences are less expensive than living at a rehabilitation facility or detox center because fewer services are offered.

As a consequence, alcohol and substance use recidivism following treatment is high for both men and women (Montgomery et al., 1993). Alternative approaches need to be explored, such as abstinence-specific social support settings . Self-governed settings may offer several benefits as they require minimal costs because residents pay for their own expenses . Recovering substance abusers living in these types of settings may develop a strong sense of bonding with similar others who share common abstinence goals. Receiving abstinence support, guidance, and information from recovery home members committed to the goal of long-term sobriety and abstinence may reduce the probability of a relapse (Jason, Ferrari, Davis & Olson, 2006). This experience might provide residents with peers who model effective coping skills, be resources for information on how to maintain abstinence, and act as advocates for sobriety.

Leonard A. Jason

The current study supports a prior study that found that for individuals assigned to the OH condition, those who stayed for at least six months had better outcomes than those who stayed less than 6 months7,13. However the prior study also found several significant differences between OH participants and UA participants. The reason for the differences may be due to societal and economic factors that contributed to shorter stays in OH in the current study compared to the prior study. Additionally, a number of the OHs had recently opened in Chicago, and many of these houses eventually had to close due to problems with residents being unable to secure jobs and pay their share of expenses. In the current study, all participants had been or were currently involved with the criminal justice system, which was not the case in the prior study.

One study found that each additional month spent in recovery homes led to a 20% increase in the odds of continued abstinence25. However given that staying in recovery homes requires abstinence, it is possible that improved abstinence may be due in part to the requirements of recovery homes. It is thus important to attempt to understand the processes through which better outcomes might be generated by longer stays19. In our study, the finding that longer stays in OH corresponded to increased abstinence self-efficacy suggests that this is one mechanism through which recovery homes may influence continued abstinence. Furthermore, previous research has shown that women who have social support networks that support abstinence may be more likely to maintain their recovery20, 21, 22, 23. It is possible that longer residence in an OH communal living experience might provide residents adequate exposure to the essential abstinence social support.

The Importance of Having a Strong Support System in a Young Adult Sober Living Facility

OHs are self-run, abstinent settings for individuals dealing with substance abuse problems. There are about 65 OH recovery homes in Illinois; for this study, we focused on 23 OHs in the Chicago metropolitan area. Residents may remain in these settings as long as they pay their rent, which is about $100 a week, abstain from alcohol or drug use, and comply with assigned weekly chores. Assignment was not random as individuals were assigned to the OH condition if an opening was available at the time of recruitment. There was no systematic bias in assigning individuals into one of the two conditions.