1. Hoarding
How to Help Through Recovery
Coping Strategies in Real Life
Situations
Jennifer Prell, President
847-829-4437
www.Paxem.com
Pa em com

2. Definition of a Hoarder
Hoarding is defined as the collection of items in
excess of what is needed in a normal household that
interferes with the flow and functionality of a home
home.
Persistent difficulty disposing of or p
y p g parting with
g
personal possessions.
Hoarders aren’t j t t l
H d ’t just too lazy t clean up th j t
to l they just
can’t bring themselves to remove anything from the
home.

3. Hoarders All Around
 Teachers
 Professors
P
Psychologists
h l i t
 Doctors
 Engineers
 Home Makers
 Older Adults

4. Hoarders Are Smart
 Hoarders know how to manipulate their loved ones
and hide the disorder.
 They typically don’t have people over.
 They may look neat and tidy but their home tells
another story.

5. Psychological Disorder
y g
 They most likely know that it’s wrong to own so much
but can t stop and are out of control
can’t control.
 When you confront them they will become defensive
y y
and deny the problem.

6. Common Reasons for Hoarding
 Fear
 Becoming poor
 Forgetting; memories
 OCD
 Perfectionists
 Trauma (death, divorce, abuse, loss of some kind)
( , , , )
 Depression
 Items are still useful
 Heredity (grew up in a hoarding home)
 Complex disorder/disease

7. Complex in Nature
 You can’t force someone to clean up their
home unless they face eviction or receive a
citation.
 If you don’t address the issue the house will
don t
return to it’s hoarding state.
 The hoarder must seek help such as therapy,
counseling, or medication.
 The psychological disorder causes
hoarding

8. Case #1
Ms. Smith’s ex-husband had verbally abused her during
their 6 years of marriage. Once she left the marriage she
moved into an apartment by herself. She was depressed
and constantly shopped to help lift her spirits. She would
take home office supplies, makeup, new clothing, etc. and
throw the bags into her apartment.
By the time we were hired by Ms. Smith (she was seeing a
psychologist) her apartment was completely filled
filled.
She slept and ate in her car and showered at the club.
p

9. Case #1 Continued
Paxem didn’t judge her. We told her we would help her get
her life back We threw away about 10 dumpsters worth of
back.
garbage and donated thousands of useful items. The items
she couldn’t part with we stored in clear containers so she
could see what she owned so she didn’t need to buy more.
didn t
We taught her how to keep her apartment neater and she
later hired us to move her to a new apartment With
apartment.
treatment she was able to move forward with her life and
knew to seek help when she had hoarding urges. She is
living independently and needed no further assistance from
g p y
Paxem.
We were NOT allowed to take photographs.

10. Case #2
Linda M. an older adult was living in a senior
g
apartment. She was going to be evicted due to the
poor upkeep of her apartment. She was disabled and
needed help to clean it up
up.
The following picture is of the kitchen that represents
what the whole apartment looked like.

11. Before clean out

12. After clean out

13. Case #3
Sandy H. was a y
y young professional working downtown
g g
and living it up. She worked hard, went out often and
couldn’t seem to keep her house in order. She has
never had anyone over to the house and asked us if
we could help her so she could have friends over.
She was embarrassed to have us there but knew she
needed help. She was very emotional and cried when
we viewed her home. We helped her remove two
truckloads of garbage and donated what we could.

18. Case #3 Continued
There are many more pictures – different rooms same
y
chaos.
We l
W cleared out the clutter in 2 d
d t th l tt i days. Wh we were
When
through Sandy was excited and invited her friends over
for an evening at her house.
S e ad
She had a new pe spec e o life a d wanted to e joy
e perspective on e and a ed o enjoy
her home as well as her friends.

19. Case #4
Animal Hoarding:
Client had 4 dogs, 1 bird and 6 cats in a very small
apartment. She let them urinate and defecate wherever
they wanted. Paxem was hired to help with the “organizing”
wanted organizing
of the home because she still was living out of boxes.
We only organized. We were not allowed to throw away
any items and the animals were roaming freely while
organizing.
organizing One dog was vicious and the client kept it on a
leash next to her so it wouldn’t bite us. She wouldn’t admit
she had an issue, wouldn’t seek help and was evicted 6
months later.

20. Case #5
Mental Illness:
Client had cats – we don’t know how many. The client
lived in a condo for years without cleaning. She was
an alcoholic and did ’t notice th problems around h
l h li d didn’t ti the bl d her.
She was forcibly removed to a hospital. We were hired
by her niece to do the clean out.

21. Family Room Master Bedroom

22. Kitchen

23. Living Room

24. Dining Room

25. Service Organizations
 Wellness check
 Elder abuse report
 Township or senior center
 www.challengingdisorganization.org
 humanel@aspca.org or www.ASPCA.org
 Home owner’s association

26. Illinois General Assembly
Elder Ab se & Neglect Act
Abuse
The Elder Abuse and Neglect Act. Provides that "self-neglect" includes
self neglect
compulsive hoarding, which is characterized by the acquisition of, and
unwillingness or inability to discard, large quantities of seemingly
useless objects that create a significantly cluttered living space and
cause considerable distress or impairment in functioning.
Provides that the Department on Aging's program of services for
Aging s
persons age 60 or older shall include the following services for eligible
adults who have been removed from their residences for the purpose
of cleanup or repairs: temporary housing; counseling; and caseworker
p p p y g; g;
services to try to ensure that the conditions necessitating the removal
do not reoccur.

27. Illinois General Assembly
Elder Ab se & Neglect Act
Abuse
Senate Committee Amendment No. 1
Provides that "self-neglect" includes compulsive hoarding, which is
characterized by the acquisition and retention of large quantities of
items and materials that produce an extensively cluttered living space,
which significantly impairs the performance of essential self-care tasks
or otherwise substantially threatens life or safety (instead of which is
characterized by the acquisition of, and unwillingness or inability to
discard, large quantities of seemingly useless objects that create a
significantly cluttered living space and cause considerable distress or
impairment in functioning).
Effective Date August 18, 2009

28. Coping Strategies
 When you discuss the issues with the hoarder
don’t point blame, accuse, belittle or push. They
will pull back and you won’t be able to help.
 Use
U words carefully and ask what you can d t
d f ll d k h t do to
help.
 Start with items that aren t as emotionally
aren’t
connected to the hoarder.
 If the hoarder will not accept help you need to call
for h l
f help.
 Redirect attention to other activities

29. Maintenance
• Minimize spacial options
• Look for patterns of behavior
• Help change their outlook, improve their
self worth
• Be creative and negotiate
• Remove unnecessary items immediately
• Ongoing therapy and psychiatry
• Ongoing organizing & de-cluttering
• Build relationships

30. Maintenance Continued
Continued…
• Maintain respect for client
• Empathize with their issues but don’t
become part of the problem
• The client should always be included in
decision-making
• Watch for signs of old behaviors

31. Thank you!
Jennifer Prell
Paxem, Inc
Paxem Inc.
847-829-4437
www.Paxem.com
P