Utah lacking Oxford House program for recovery

Despite the many pathways to recovery offered in Utah, one option is noticeably absent: The Oxford House.

And Paul Molloy is hoping that changes sometime soon.

Molloy, who calls himself a "recovering alcoholic with a happy ending," began the Oxford House in 1975 just outside Washington, D.C.

Molloy had watched 11 of his 12 recovering alcoholic friends complete their allotted six-month stay in a county-funded half-way house, then get kicked out, followed by a relapse within 30 days.

When the county's center closed, he and some friends — thanks to a generous loan of $750 — rented their own home to create a recovery haven with no time limit.

"There's no great magic in what alcoholics and drug addicts have to do — figure out how you can live without using booze or drugs," Molloy told the Deseret News in a phone interview. "Everybody is different, and it takes different lengths of time for people to get comfortable enough in sobriety to avoid relapses."

Molloy's new house was different. No house manager, no cook, no live-in counselor. The rules were few and simple. Pay your rent, don't be disruptive and don't use drugs or alcohol.

It was a self-run, self-supported addiction recovery house, run as a democracy with officials who were voted in for six-month terms.

"Then the common bond that ties everybody together is not fighting the authority, but the common bond is how the hell can you be comfortable in sobriety," Molloy said.

Everyone paid an equal share of the expenses and by pooling the extra money, the group had enough to open another house. Four men from the first house moved over and got it going. By 1987, there were 13 houses in the D.C. area.

Now, thanks to a revolving loan fund in states, there are more than 1,200 houses in 41 states — excluding Utah. The closest Oxford Houses are in Las Vegas, Laramie and Denver.

Although the Papilion House in American Fork is modeled after the Oxford House, it is not an official Oxford House.

"The good news is we have 1,300 houses," Molloy said. "The bad news is, it needs to be 70,000 houses. If there were 70,000 houses much of the problem of alcoholism and drug addiction could be taken care of."

All houses under the Oxford House chapter abide by one main rule — relapse and you're gone.

But you'll never get kicked out if you play by the rules, Molloy said. One man who moved into a house in the D.C. area in 1977 was there until his death a year ago, Molloy said.

The house has seen enormous success, Molloy said, with nearly 80 percent of "graduates" staying clean.

"When they get to an Oxford House, they say, 'We stay clean and sober,"' he said. "That may well become ... a self-fulfilling prophecy."

For more information about the Oxford model visit: www.oxfordhouse .org.

---

E-mail: sisraelsen@ desnews.com