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Together, the productivity and incarceration benefits yield an estimated $613,000 in savings accruing to the Oxford House participants. In this same study, we examined the combined effects of 12-step involvement and Oxford House residence on abstinence over a 24-month period (Groh, Jason & Ferrari, 2009). Among individuals with high 12-step involvement, the addition of Oxford House residence significantly increased the rates of abstinence (87.5% vs. 52.9%). Results suggested that the joint effectiveness of these mutual-help programs may promote abstinence and extended our previous research indicating that OH residents frequently engage in 12-step program use (Nealon-Woods, Ferrari, & Jason, 1997). We quickly looked into a national Oxford House data set and examined how the number of residents in Oxford House affected residents’ individual outlooks for recovery. We found that larger house sizes of 8 to 10 residents corresponded with less criminal and aggressive behavior.
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. It appears that adequate house income seems to be a necessary factor for houses continuing to function over time. Economic data also were supportive for participants in the Oxford House condition over the course of the two-year study. Oxford House participants earned roughly $550 more per month than participants in the usual care group. Annualizing this difference for the entire Oxford House sample corresponds to approximately $494,000 in additional benefits to those in the Oxford House condition. The lower rate of incarceration (3% versus 9%) in the study among Oxford House versus usual care participants corresponded to annualized savings for the Oxford House sample of roughly $119,000.
Colorado House Forms
Additionally, over the course of the study, increases were found in the percentage of their social networks who were abstainers or in recovery. Finally, latent growth curve analyses indicated that less support for substance use by significant others and time in Oxford House predicted change in cumulative abstinence over the course of the study. 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. There is considerable evidence for the effectiveness of TCs (DeLeon, & Rosenthal, 1989). Substantial reductions in recidivism rates have been found when in-prison Therapeutic Communities (TCs) are combined with community transition programs (Hiller, Knight, & Simpson, 1999; Wexler et al., 1996).
Oxford House, which began in 1975, is different from the traditional recovery home model. Oxford Houses are self-run and residents can stay as long as they pay their weekly rent, follow the house rules, and remain abstinent from drugs and alcohol. Over 25,000 people have lived in these homes over the past year, making them the largest https://ecosoberhouse.com/ network of residential recovery self-help homes in the country. 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.
Friends of Recovery Association
Individuals early in their recovery or with particular interpersonal characteristics might need more of a structured and professionally-led milieu in order to maintain abstinence given the freedoms that are provided in Oxford Houses. In the past 90 days, the sample had an average of 1 day of residential treatment for psychiatric problems and an average of 3 sessions with a counselor for psychiatric problems. Certainly, it is clear that the sample of Oxford House residents do have significant mental health problems and that they do utilize mental health services outside of their Oxford Houses. One of the largest examples of a community-based, mutual-help residential community for high risk substance abuse individuals is Oxford House. In the U.S., over 9,800 people live in these self-run dwellings where they obtain jobs, pay utility bills, and learn to be responsible citizens.
- In a National Institute of Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) supported study, we successfully recruited 150 individuals who completed treatment at alcohol and drug abuse facilities in the Chicago metropolitan area.
- Residents indicated that personal motivation for recovery was a necessary component of their success in Oxford House (Alvarez, Jason, Davis, Ferrari, & Olson, 2007).
- After treatment for substance abuse, whether by prison, hospital-based treatment programs, or therapeutic communities, many patients return to former high-risk environments or stressful family situations.
- We worked with the needs of diverse groups, including ex-offenders, minority groups including Native Americans, and women and women with children.
Moos (2006 Moos (2007) pointed to other individual, biological, and socio-environmental factors that predicted abstinence maintenance. Moos (1994) maintained that effective interventions for recovering individuals might be those that engage clients and promote naturally-occurring healing processes, such as self-help based treatments. Abstinence-specific social support may be critical to facilitating abstinence among persons with substance use disorders. Such social support is often acquired and utilized through participation oxford house rules in mutual-help groups (Humphreys, Mankowski, Moos, & Finney, 1999), where individuals are likely to develop peer networks consisting of abstainers and others in recovery. Investment in abstinence-specific social support was reported to be one of the best post-treatment prognostic indicators of recovery (Longabaugh et al., 1995; Zywiak, Longabaugh & Wirtz, 2002). Group homes like Oxford House sometimes face significant neighborhood opposition, and municipalities frequently use maximum occupancy laws to close down these homes.
Cost of Living in an Oxford House
Neither type of facility 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. For example, Oxford Houses permitted greater flexibility in terms of residents’ smoking in their rooms, sleeping late in the morning or staying out late at night, going away for a weekend, and having “private time” in their locked room with guests. Oxford Houses also were more likely than TCs to allow residents to have personal possessions (e.g., pictures, furniture) within the dwelling (Ferrari, Jason, Sasser et al., 2006). When an individual struggling with a substance abuse disorder has been discharged from inpatient treatment, they usually leave with an aftercare plan. Aftercare can include many options such as attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, coming in once a week to see a therapist, or moving into a recovery home.
