Overview
• Hoarding Definitions
• Attitude and approach
• Traits and reasons for saving
• Tactics & Techniques

• acquiring and failing to throw out a large number of items that would appear to have little or no value to others
• severe cluttering of the person's home so that it is no longer able to function as a viable living space

Group discussion – what to people think about this?
It’s not just that someone being lazy – they have no idea how it’s happened. Often happened over a long period of time. Have forgotten what room looks like without all the things they have collected.
ASK GROUP : What are some of the reasons for it happening?
Sometimes from inheriting from a family member. This can be a positive and negative experience, as they have been a beloved parent/aunt or someone whom they had a bad relationship with and the possessions (from either example) cause a lot of unexpected emotions in them such a heartache, confusion & grief.

**In May 2013 Hoarding Disorder was officially recognised in the DSM-V (the fifth edition of the Diagnostic & Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders)**
Squalor gets bunged in with hoarding but they aren’t the same.
What is squalor?
Squalor is an unsanitary living environment that has arisen from extreme/prolonged neglect. It poses substantial health and safety risks to people or animals residing in the affected premises as well as others in the community.
Hoarding isn’t about someone being lazy – they just don’t know what to do. It’s like the assumption everyone will know how to wash-up – if you’ve never been shown how do you know?
Remember the possessions they have (whether it be old cereal boxes/loo rolls/newspapers) are all special to them – find out what the attachment is.
For instance a local newspaper might be kept because the customer wants knowledge, they feel that they need to know about local events but haven’t gotten around to reading it yet. If this is the case might be able to show them a PC (if they haven’t seen one) at the library to show how data is kept available in a non hoarding fashion.
You are taught to read & write but not everyone teaches their kids to tidy up their room – they’re just told to do it. How do you know where to start?
Hoarding customers will be worried you are going to take it away – this might have been from when they were little and someone threw away something that was precious to them. Like a dolls house – because they were too grown up to keep it.
Need to have the right attitude – it won’t look like squalor to them. Don’t be negative. Work with your customers as a collaborator not a ‘teller offerer”
Their defence mechanism will be that “it’s my choice” – criticism will make them hold on to it more.

Assumption – for example we assume that everyone know that food goes into the kitchen to be put in cupboards and the fridge. But people that hoard may not think this way – so they hang it in bags around the house and forget about it. (if you don’t leave the house you don’t recognise how bad the smell is)
If you think of the customers possessions as “stuff” or “rubbish” – you won’t get anywhere with your customer. The things they are keeping are precious to them. You have to be respectful of it and practice a non judgemental approach.
Think about your own collections. Photographs are really important to me and I fastidiously keep them in albums and on pin boards and on the fridge. What’s precious to you? Feelings are a real key to helping someone who hoards. They will help you to find out what the attachment is and then hopefully organise it practically.
It might be that some things like a DVD collection can be organised onto shelves. If you go through them they might have bought copies – logically those things can be recycled via charity shops. The customer will feel better about giving it to a worthy cause.

Homer Lusk Collyer (November 6, 1881 – March 21, 1947) and Langley Wakeman Collyer (October 3, 1885 – c. March 9, 1947), were two American brothers who became famous because of their bizarre natures and compulsive hoarding. For decades, the two lived in seclusion in their Harlem brownstone at 2078 Fifth Avenue (at the corner of 128th Street) where they obsessively collected books, furniture, musical instruments, and many other items, with booby traps set up in corridors and doorways to ensnare intruders.
• Both Homer and Langley attended Columbia University, Homer obtained a degree in admiralty law, while Langley studied engineering and chemistry. Langley was also an accomplished concert pianist; he played professionally for a time and performed at Carnegie Hall.
• After their parents' deaths, the Collyer brothers continued to live together in the Harlem brownstone they inherited from their mother. They socialized and left their home on a regular basis. Homer continued to practice law while Langley worked as a piano dealer. Both also taught Sunday school at the Trinity Church. In 1933, Homer lost his eyesight due to haemorrhages in the back of his eyes. Langley quit his job to care for his brother and the two began to withdraw from society. As time progressed, the brothers became fearful due to changes in the neighbourhood; the largely upper-class area experienced the effects of the Great Depression as poverty and subsequent crime increased.
• When later asked why the two chose to shut themselves off from the world, Langley Collyer replied, "We don't want to be bothered." As rumours about the brothers' unconventional lifestyle spread throughout Harlem, crowds began to congregate outside their home. The attention caused the brothers' fears to increase along with their eccentricities. After teenagers threw rocks at their windows they boarded them up and wired the doors shut. After a number of attempted burglaries due to unfounded rumours that the brothers' home contained valuables and large sums of money, Langley set about using his engineering skills to set up booby traps and tunnels among the collection of items and trash that filled the house. The house soon became a maze of boxes, complicated tunnel systems consisting of junk and trash rigged with trip wires. Homer and Langley Collyer lived in "nests" created amongst the debris that was piled to the ceiling.
• On March 21, 1947, an anonymous tipster who identified himself only as "Charles Smith" phoned the 122nd Police Precinct and insisted there was a dead body in the house. The caller claimed that the smell of decomposition was emanating from the house.
• After five hours of digging, Homer Collyer's body was found in an alcove surrounded by filled boxes and newspapers that were piled to the ceiling. The medical examiner confirmed Homer's identity and said that the elder brother had been dead for approximately ten hours According to the medical examiner, Homer died from starvation and heart disease.
• On March 30, false rumours circulated that Langley had been seen aboard a bus heading for Atlantic City. A manhunt along the New Jersey shore turned up nothing. Reports of Langley sightings led police to a total of nine states.
• (At this point could interject and ask colleagues where they think the brother might be?)
• On April 8, 1947, a workman found the body of Langley Collyer ten feet from where Homer had died Langley was found in a two-foot (60 cm) wide tunnel lined with rusty bed springs and a chest of drawers. His decomposing body, which was the actual source of the smell reported by the anonymous tipster, had been partially eaten by rats and was covered by a suitcase, bundles of newspapers and three metal bread boxes. The medical examiner determined that Langley had died around March 9th. Police theorized that Langley was crawling through the tunnel to bring food to his paralyzed brother when he inadvertently tripped a booby trap he had created and was crushed by debris. His cause of death was attributed to asphyxiation.
• Police and workmen removed approximately 120 tons of debris and junk from the Collyer brownstone Items were removed from the house such as baby carriages, a doll carriage, rusted bicycles, old food, potato peelers, a collection of guns, glass chandeliers, bowling balls, camera equipment, the folding top of a horse-drawn carriage, a sawhorse, three dressmaking dummies, painted portraits, photos of pinup girls from the early 1900s, plaster busts, Mrs. Collyer's hope chests, rusty bed springs, the kerosene stove, a child's chair (the brothers were lifelong bachelors and childless), more than 25,000 books (including thousands about medicine and engineering and more than 2,500 on law), human organs pickled in jars,] eight live cats, the chassis of the old Model T with which Langley had been tinkering, tapestries, hundreds of yards of unused silks and other fabrics, clocks, fourteen pianos (both grand and upright), a clavichord, two organs, banjos, violins, bugles, accordions, a gramophone and records, and countless bundles of newspapers and magazines, some of them decades old, and thousands of bottles and tin cans and a great deal of garbage. Near the spot where Homer had died, police also found 34 bank account passbooks, with a total of $3,007 (about $36,366 as of 2015).
• Source from Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collyer_brothers
• Think about some of those items – why would these men collect them? What is the connection between these brothers and the items they have hoarded?
•

Flipchart the words – group discussion.
Just to highlight that this is not just about a practical solution – it’s about feelings and attachment

Ask people to shout at possible reasons, before go through list.
Just in case – They might need it in the future but we need to think of worst case scenarios and put things like this into context. How likely are they to need 3 broken lawnmowers when they have one that works?
It is unique – cannot be replaced. Are they certain of this? What can you do to persuade them otherwise. If so, should it go to a museum so others can see this treasure. Maybe a target to look at for self esteem purpose.
It has a good home here – it will get well treated. Turning objects into people – turn this back on them “if this was a person it would be suffocated”
Can’t decide what to do with it – so just holding on to it. Ask what is the relevance – what is the need?
Feel awful if I get rid of it – don’t want to make that mistake. Ask why? What’s the WCS?
It might have a resale value – eBay/car boots sale. How often do they sell on eBay? When was the last time they went to car boot (Have they even got a car) If they do want to do this, great – lets do it now! Support planning.
Can’t remember – but it must’ve been a good reason. If they can’t remember maybe now is the time to re-evaluate. What could you keep it for?
Can’t throw out junkmail – somebody has taken the time to write to me – I should read it. Rationalise this… it’s a computer printed leaflet sent out to millions of people. It may not be directed at you.
Sentimental value – never force this, don’t have to throw anything away.
One day it might be an antique – how valuable is it getting out of the situation you’re in compared to the value of this of a possible antique.

Clutter Image Rating – living room Handout
• What would you give yours? 1-9
• Getting your customers to look at the clutter objectively. Maybe ask them how they would rate it and how a stranger might rate it.
• Images for various rooms available
• This may help customers see it from another persons perspective / also used as a before and after shot
• Hand out forms - These forms are just to guide you – adapt and use them creatively to suit your customer.
• SF: This form has an example attached to it but the point is if you have a serious hoarder you’re recording all of the issue… from start to finish ensuring that you capture things like mood and feelings. What can you do to work around this? Smaller tasks are always a must – if people are starting and not finishing then it’s because it’s taking too long/emotion gets in the way etc.
• Prioritising : (writing on a piece of paper 1- 10) This is a great little form for getting customers to really think about their possessions like for instance there was a case study about a customer who collected Pizza Boxes and he did it because it reminded him of when his friends used to come over every Friday night and eat pizza with him. Because of the clutter they no longer came around – he needed to realise what was more important by re evaluating his position. His friends were the reason he was keeping the boxes but he no longer saw them because of the boxes!!

If we are thinking of their possessions as precious or treasures – items of value… how can we encourage our customers to discard them?
We’ve already discussed eBay/car boots – this could be a real step for customers but also a negative because they could acquire more things!
What positive/creative ideas have you got for helping your customers to discard their items.
Should have answers such as: PDSA RSPCA, recycling, selling, relatives & friends, charity shops.
Clothing – putting it into 4 piles - Best, Okay, Charity, No good.
Worst case scenario “You’ve saved all your pieces of wood to build a fence” If you throw them out – could buy some more from B&Q – no one will die!

Ethel's case study - handout work in pairs.