Bryson Posey found the path to recovery the night he crashed into the rear of someone else's car.
"The police helped me find recovery," Posey said. "Getting that DUI was probably the best thing that could have ever happened to me, because I was making everyone around me miserable, and I certainly wasn't happy."
For Ryan Lang, DUIs and forced rehab weren't enough to break the cycle of addiction - he had to make the decision for himself.
"The blessing of it, for me, has been that I did have to go out there and live life on life's terms, and it forced me to take the suggestions of those who have done it before me," he said.
It wasn't until he went to prison that Justin Southworth realized that something needed to change.
"I realized that I needed to start making a plan to be successful when I got out the last time, because I knew that inevitably, I'd be back out here," Southworth said.
Today, Posey, Lang and Southworth are all sober, working and helping others on the path to recovery. They attribute their shared success to the support they were able to find through the Oxford House model of recovery - what Posey likes to call a "three-quarters-of-the-way" house for recovering addicts and alcoholics.
Oxford Houses are democratically run, self-sustaining group homes that promote sobriety and reintegration for recovering addicts. The first Oxford House was established in Maryland in 1975, and today there are nearly 2,000 houses in four countries, and 15 in West Virginia, including Oxford House Wallace, the Wyoming Street House where Posey and Southworth live. Lang lives in another West Side Oxford House on Grove Avenue, but the two houses cooperate closely with each other and with a third men's house on the West Side. There is a fourth Oxford House in the county for women located in Dunbar.
"Sobriety is a way of life," Posey said. "It's not simply not drinking or not doing drugs - that is part of it, yes, and it's a major part of it, but sobriety is doing the next right thing, thinking 'are my motives pure?' or 'am I living in a manner that is not harmful?' It's almost like the Hippocratic Oath: 'First, do no harm,' and doing no harm means not doing it to your own body or your own mind."
Each house can have anywhere from six to 10 people living in it at a time, and each house has its own internal structure meant to keep members accountable. Members vote democratically on their own house rules, elect their own leaders and decide together if someone needs to leave. The model creates camaraderie, according to Posey, and helps houses work as a cohesive unit.
"We have a lot of guys coming out of prison, we have guys who have lost basically everything - they've lost relationships, they've lost custody of their kids, they've lost jobs, they've lost insurance, and they come here, and we can help them get back on their feet and do the things they need to do," Posey said. "Through experience, we know, 'hey, this guy needs a medical card,' or, 'he needs a job. Who do I know in the community who can help him?'"
The flexibility the Oxford House model offers its members sets it apart from other models of recovery - members who have successfully completed their probationary period can stay out overnight four nights a week, and can have overnight guests three nights a week. They must remain sober, pay their rent, do their house chores and remain respectful of their house mates, but are otherwise left to determine their own path to recovery.
"I started drinking when I was 16, and I started using drugs around the same time," Southworth said. "I'm going to college now for the first time at 34. I started using drugs heavily in my early 20s, and I never had the desire to stop, to be honest, until - for me, when I got dry and my mind started working again, I thought, 'man, there's a better way than this.' I made a conscious decision then to turn my life around, and to do what it takes to be a successful person out here."
While working with an exit counselor in Huttonsville Correctional Center's Residential Substance Abuse Treatment program, Southworth learned about the Oxford House program.
"I can honestly say that from the time I was 15 or 16 years old, the last six months is the longest I've ever been completely sober in my entire adult life," he said.
Many of those who live in one of Charleston's Oxford Houses, including Lang, Southworth and Posey, have tried other methods of treatment and have relapsed. Relapse is common among addicts - according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, up to 60 percent of recovering addicts will relapse at least once.
"I had a good stretch of sobriety in the late 90s and early 2000s, but the relapses got longer and the addiction got worse," Lang said. "That's exactly what you hear from people who have experienced it - my last relapse was approximately nine years."
The Oxford House, like other peer-to-peer recovery models, has an edge on more traditional models, Posey said - recovering addicts are more able to spot when someone has returned to using drugs and alcohol, and are better able to relate to the struggles of those in active addiction.
"It's about knowing that there's something out there greater than you, and about turning your life over to your higher power," Posey said. "I'm not particularly religious, but letting my higher power work in my life really has worked for me - whether it's God, the house itself, your sponsor - knowing that ultimately, I am not in total control of my life ... when I've tried to be in control, I've screwed it up every time."
Next door, Annette Bradley, a licensed therapist who works from home, said that as a drug specialist, she was aware of some of the more troubling behaviors that can go along with addiction, but was pleasantly surprised by the graciousness of her neighbors.
"They have been the best neighbors," Bradley said. "Everyone was worried about their property value and all that, but let me tell you - for me, being a single mother here, I feel so safe, because they cut my grass, they shovel my snow. I don't even have to ask. They're just really nice; they're a great bunch of folks."
Rodney Stewart, who lives across the street, agrees.
"They're very outgoing. They help you out when you need it, and they're fine neighbors," he said.
The goal of the Oxford House is two-fold, Posey said - to encourage recovery and to create other Oxford Houses capable of sparking more recovery.
"Ultimately, our goal is to get enough money in the bank that we can go out, take a couple of the successful guys from here, and start a new Oxford House," Posey said.
For Posey, the Oxford House has done more than help his addiction; it has helped him learn to see beyond himself.
"I see tiny miracles every day," he said. "A man working who couldn't hold down a job. A man paying bills when he used to steal to support his habit. A man being kind, when he used to be selfish. These things that some take for granted, I marvel over - and to share in that is truly amazing. Recovery is possible."
Oxford House Wallace is accepting applications for new members. To learn more about the Oxford House, visit www.oxfordhouse.org.
Reach Lydia Nuzum at lydia.nuzum@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-5189 or follow @lydianuzum on Twitter.