In the late hours of May 20th, we had the great pleasure of presenting to our UK colleagues at the Association of Professional Declutterers and Organisers (APDO) Conference. We had been scheduled to present live in London a year ago. The theme then was The Future is Organised, but of course COVID happened.
COVID has forced us all to adapt. Luckily, adapting is something organisers are good at. The APDO Conference was delivered virtually under the banner The Future is Re-Organised. Our presentation evolved from Solutions for Hoarding: Four Alternatives to the Rapid Clean Out to Managing Hoarding in COVID Times.
Many people think that resolving a hoarding situation involves rolling up your sleeves and dealing with the accumulated clutter, something that is hard to do under COVID restrictions. In reality, the most important work is done before any discarding action takes place. That’s because hoarding is behavioural issue, and clutter is only a symptom of the behaviour.
Over the last twelve months, Hoarding Home Solutions has been providing training to the Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (previously DHHS) staff with a clear and simple message about how they can keep their hoarding clients safe in spite of restrictions.
Now is the time to:
- Build respectful trusting relationships with clients or loved ones you are concerned about, away from the clutter.
- Use assessment tools to identify risks and encourage targeted activities to improve safety.
- Provide avenues for people to seek support and assist them to stay motivated and accountable.
In the presentation we provided practical and specific examples of how these can be achieved while working remotely.
This information is relevant wherever you live, anywhere in the world, and we were delighted by the positive response from our UK counterparts on the subject of Managing Hoarding in COVID Times.
