You've probably never hear of an Oxford House, but 9,500 people live in
these recovery communities throughout the US. They represent one of the
largest self-help organizations in the world, and they are completely
self run with no professional staff. What's more is that they don't cost
society anything. Residents of each house obtain jobs, pay their bills,
and learn how to become responsible citizens for their families and
communities. It sounds too good, but it's true.

Follow up:

Beginning with one single rented residence in the mid 1970s, Oxford
Houses now number over 1,300 in the U.S. and they are beginning to
become established in other countries, such as Canada and Australia.
These rented homes, sprinkled throughout communities across the US, are
transforming our country's efforts to deal with drug addiction. Oxford
Houses are effective in reducing recidivism because they provide stable
housing without any limits on length of stay, a network of job
opportunities, and support for abstinence.

Our country faces a crisis situation with the growing number of people
who end up warehoused in psychiatric hospitals, prisons, nursing homes
or other institutions where they're all too frequently deprived of their
most basic rights. Our health care system then discharges these
vulnerable people into communities where they have few prospects for
stable housing or employment, and little encouragement to succeed. We
then see the consequences of these failed policies on our streets.
Victims of drug addiction, chronic illness, and mental illness suffer
from one overwhelming debility -- hopelessness. Oxford Houses succeed
because they provide hope, the most potent and least expensive medicine
for these conditions.

See Dr. Jason's video by searching Community Psychology on The Psychology Channel home page. His book Rescued Lives is available through Routledge Publishers. To find out more go to: http://newsroom.depaul.edu/NewsReleases/showNews.aspx?NID=1851

Leonard A. Jason, Ph.D.
DePaul University
Center for Community Research
990 W. Fullerton Ave., Suite 3100
Chicago, Il. 60614
773-325-2018