FRIENDS OF RECOVERY
949 S. Glendale, Suite 112 • Wichita, Kansas

Chris Hall, Program Coordinator

Friends of Recovery Association (FORA) was formed in 1991 in Overland Park, Kansas by Harold and Ruth Keeling in response to the need for establishing 12 step based recovery homes in the state of Kansas. The Keelings learned of these homes - called Oxford Houses - from a segment on "60 Minutes" that had discussed these successful houses. FORA was established with the intent to open Oxford Houses in Kansas and to support those houses as much as possible. FORA not only provides a $4,000 interest free start up loan to a new Oxford House, it provides much needed professional support to Oxford Houses in Kansas. FORA provides education, case management, mediation, crisis intervention and mentorship to any and all residents of Kansas Oxford Houses. FORA also supports Kansas Oxford Houses by providing public education regarding addiction and recovery, advocating for Oxford Houses, and acting as a liaison between treatment and correctional facilities and the Oxford Houses themselves. The focus, however, still remains on expanding the network of houses.

Since 1991 FORA has been paramount in the establishment and continued success of the 45 current Oxford Houses in the state. There are currently only two staff - the executive director in Kansas City, and a Program Coordinator in Wichita. The two staff serve the houses that extend over a large geographic area, which includes Couglas, Ford, Johnson, Riley, Sedgwick, Shawnee and Wyandotte counties.

Oxford Houses are democratically run, self-supporting recovery homes for people that suffer from alcohol and/or drug addiction. Each house is autonomous and makes rules that fit the personality of the house, but every house has a set of nine traditions that it must follow and three cardinal rules that cannot be overridden. These are 1) the house must pay its bills on time, 2) the house must be democratically run, and 3) any resident who returns to drinking or drug use must be expelled immediately. The houses are run by the resident memebers. Each house has five elected offices - the president, secretary, comptroller, chore coordinator and treasurer. Two or more houses in a specific geographic location can form a chapter, which provides additional support to the residents in the houses.

Oxford Houses have shown an 80% success rate of continued abstinence (over a three-year period) for those residents that say in the house for six months or longer. This national study was completed by DePaul University in 2005. The professionally accepted success rates for people going to treatment alone is between 20% and 40%. The greatest thing about the Oxford Houses, other than the fact that they work, is that there is such a small cost to the taxpayer. Friends of Recovery Association is a nonprofit 501c3 organization and is publicly and state funded (with an obviously small budget). Oxford Houses themselves receive no public funding whatsoever.

For more information about Oxford Houses, please visit www.oxfordhouse.org or www.ohwichita.org.