At Oxford House, we believe in the power of family!
That’s why we’ve created the Oxford House Family Monthly Donor Program, a way for you to join our family and support our communities as they build their best lives. By becoming a monthly donor, you’ll not only be making a difference in someone’s life, but you’ll also see just how far your support can go! For just $9 a day, you can provide a home for
someone at Oxford House.
That’s just $9 a month covers a day.
$63 a month will cover an entire week.
Really, really want to help?
$275 will cover a whole month!
AND, your donations up to $10,000 will be matched by The Canadian Tilling Foundation!
Join the Oxford House Family Monthly Donor Program today!
Allison’s Story
“Oxford House is not just somewhere you leave your belongings and go to work. It’s somewhere you’re meant to work on yourself. I’m super thankful that Oxford House was here for me and still is.” – Alison
For over a decade, Allison maintained her sobriety. She was active in AA, went to meetings and drinking was the furthest thing from her mind. Then life got busy with kids, and she became complacent with her program. Around that time her relationship with her husband also became difficult, and she was trying to leave her marriage. Everything seemed to be going wrong and Allison’s anxiety kicked in.
“I thought I could handle it with a bit of self-medicating. No one would ever guess I was drinking again. I was able to hide it for a time, but then people started to suspect and found out my secret and my family stopped trusting me. It was a toxic situation and my friends and family saw my life pouring out. I had become just a shell of myself. My drinking made a very difficult situation worse. But I kept doing it. In those times when my life was very stressful, I would start again, then stop, then start again. I couldn’t stay stopped. Eventually my whole life blew up and I stopped being reliable, so I went to a treatment centre.
Allison moved into her Oxford House in March 2021. She learned about Oxford House through a friend in her home group who had lived in an Oxford House two years earlier; the same house Allison lives in now. She figured she would stay for just a few months until her personal life and financial matters were settled. But it became clear to her that she still had a lot of work to do with her codependency, recognizing that she continued trying to please everyone, worrying about outcomes and not taking care of herself. Having never lived alone, Allison really appreciated the built-in support in her Oxford House home. She hadn’t realized the impact the support from her roommates would have in her life. Having peer support in her home has been huge for Allison and has given her the confidence she needs to apply all she’s learned in her outside relationships.
“I keep saying every time I go to meetings, I relapsed a bunch of times, but I don’t regret any of it because I’ve learned so much in the last couple of years, more than I ever learned in my previous multiple years of sobriety. Having the women here and being able to come and talk about things and have support is amazing, even if we have an argument or someone doesn’t think I’m their favourite person in the house, if something happens with one of us, we have each other’s backs and that’s what this house has been.”
Allison admits she did not understand how Oxford House worked when she first moved in, but she is glad she stayed longer than she first intended and adds, “Oxford House is not just somewhere you leave your belongings and go to work. It’s somewhere you’re meant to work on yourself. I’m super thankful that Oxford House was here for me and still is.”
Addictions in Alberta
One in five adults in Alberta are directly affected by addictions. This includes alcohol, gambling, illicit drugs, prescription drugs and a variety of other substances and behaviours. Each year, approximately 16,000 Albertans seek treatment for their addiction issues.
To meet the needs of individuals with addictions, services need to be long-term, holistic, affordable, trauma-informed, culturally sensitive, and promote positive social networks that model and reinforce a sober lifestyle.
Peer support is a critical component in Oxford House. Peers provide each other with social and emotional support, accountability, mentorship and role models for recovery. Increased levels of house harmony and mutual aid have been found in Oxford Houses that have members with greater age differences and income levels.
In 2022, 430 men and women moved into an Oxford House recovery home. And 114 of them moved out of Oxford House clean, sober and better equipped to live independent and financially sustainable lives. Another 119 individuals remained sober in residence.
Goal Statement
Individuals recovering from addiction have long-term sobriety and skills for self-sufficiency to successfully re-integrate into the community.
Oxford House is designed to address the needs of adult men and women who:
This goal is accomplished through the following objectives:
Men and women in recovery from addictions can apply for sober housing at http://oxfordhouse.ca/programs/
Oxford House Foundation 220-221 62 Ave SE, Calgary AB T2H 0R5