By JUDD WEIL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — After just opening a women and children's home last month in McPherson, addiction recovery-housing organization, Oxford House is in the final stages of opening a men’s home in the same area.
“We haven’t decided when the men’s house will open, but it was voted upon and it is going to be added to our chapter.” said organization member Stephen Bonnar. “We have our next chapter meeting on November sixteenth and we’ll talk about it that day.”
Oxford House’s concept for addiction recovery is described as a democratically run, self-supporting and drug free home.
"It's all self-supporting, we don’t get any outside donations," said Bonnar, "We’re just a group of people trying to stay clean. Everybody’s equal in the house, there’s no bosses, everybody has a vote of anything that’s going on in the house. There’s no ruling unless it’s voted upon by everybody.”
According to Bonnar, the first Oxford House was opened in Hutchinson in 2014. There are now 10 Oxford Houses in Hutchinson. With the women’s and children's house in McPherson opened, and another house opening soon, 12 houses will be operated under this chapter.
In line with Oxford House’s democratic approach to recovery, every person in a home fulfills a role.
“There’s the president, the comptroller, the treasurer, the housing services rep, and the secretary,” said Bonnar.
The presidents of each house go to a monthly chapter meeting to discuss and vote on new items for a house or the chapter.
The reason for separate women’s and men’s houses is recovery-oriented.
Member Ryan Eiliers said the separation of house promotes people in recovery to work on themselves, as often romantic relationships during recovery can lead to relapse.
“If they’re early in recovery, relationships tend to be a downfall,” said Eiliers.
Bonnar added, “People need to work on themselves early in recovery. You need to work on yourself. You can’t be in a relationship and successfully work in your own program. It’s an easy way to relapse if things don’t work out and feelings get hurt.”
While Oxford House does not have a lot of rules, there are a few. The major rules are no using drugs or alcohol, no counter-recovery and disruptive behavior, and make sure individual equal shares of house finances are paid.
“It’s your bills basically,” explained Bonnar. “Everybody pays the same amount, they all put in money each week to pay the bills. We call it Equal Expenses Shared.”
Anyone who uses drugs or alcohol during their stay at an Oxford House is subject to an eviction process by voting.
Oxford Houses say 18 months in one of their homes yields an 86% success rate of recovery.
After a recovered person of six months leaves the house, they can be voted in as alumni to their house or chapter. There is an association for active members with alumni status, dedicated to spreading and growing Oxford House.
Oxford House’s style of recovery programs has yielded many successes.
“People have got their kids back thanks to Oxford House,” said Bonnar. “We support members in court. If you’re going through anything, we’re here to support you, no matter what.”
Oxford House accomplishes so much despite residents at times facing a stigma to their recovery efforts.
“Jobs sometime look at you differently, court looks at you differently,” said Bonnar.
Eiliers added, even neighbors to Oxford Houses will look at them with trepidation.
Bonnar explained members try to overcome such concerns by introducing themselves to their neighbors to tell them what Oxford House is about.
“Sometimes people aren’t okay with it,” said Bonnar. “There’s eleven people living in a house usually. It’s kind of a lot.”
Bonnar did commend Hutchinson people for coming around to the idea of Oxford Houses in their neighborhoods.
“There really is not much of a stigma in this town about Oxford,” said Bonnar.
Oxford House promotes activity in the community, with chapters and houses frequently holding fundraisers, open houses, and being involved in Narcotics Anonymous (NA) activities.
Additionally, Oxford House works with the Transition Jobs Program (TJP) provided by New Beginnings Inc.
New Beginnings Inc. is a Hutchinson based community outreach program. Their TJP service provides time limited wage paying jobs combining real work, skill development and coordinated services to overcome barriers to permanent employment.
Oxford House members also volunteer at treatment centers and homeless shelters.
On opening the men’s house in McPherson, Bonnar said McPherson is in need of a men’s house.
“There’s a lot of recovery in McPherson,” said Bonnar. “And you can’t really have a house somewhere where there’s no recovery. I know they have a lot of need for Oxford House.”
Bonnar said he is confident the community of McPherson is on board with Oxford House.
Things are expected to ramp up as the new men’s house prepares to open. Oxford House is currently gathering core members for the house.
To find out more information about Oxford House for a loved one or an individual seeking to recover, visit their website https://www.oxfordhouse.org/.