Yes, I DO mean EVERYONE.
YLITH = Youth Living in The Hoard
Consider the youth who doesn’t want to get on camera on a zoom or conference call. Or the college student who doesn’t want to go home for the holidays leaving their clean living space to visit the hoard they worked so diligently to escape from.
AKOPTH = Adult Kid of Parents That Hoard
Consider the adult kid of parents that hoard who has already tried in every way to intervene with their parents hoarding situation. Attempting to intervene is extremely exhausting and can wear on you physically, mentally and emotionally. Not to mention the impact on your primary family unit NOW.
Firefighters
Think about the firefighters who couldn’t rescue a person from a hoarding situation. The fire may be too hot or there may be no way to enter the actual building. This not only impacts them and their mental health in the moment, but long after the moment has passed.
EMS
Think about the EMS crew that finally was able to shimmy a gurney into the door or window in order to gain access to rescue the person living in a hoarded space. Ponder how it feels to put your knee down on the nastiest of floors while you focus on saving a person from squalor and chaos.
Church/Non-Profits
If you volunteer or have been called upon in your duties in a church think about the work you have done easily for someone. Think about the church crew who comes to repair the floor but they can’t even see the floor in the house. Before they can even determine the extent of the repair, they would have to spend hours of moving things around to even find the floor.
Home Health Care
Often home health workers who are expected to clean and organize and straighten out their clients homes while they cook meals, provide companionship assist their clients in carry out activities of daily living.
It is nearly impossible to clean a hoarded space unless you have cooperation with the tenant that rents the place or the homeowner who lives in the house.
As a #YLITH myself I observed that hoarding cleanup issues could easily turn into a traumatic screaming match for all involved.
Therefore I don’t recommend going about these clean outs willy-nilly. It’s valuable to come up with a plan and a strategy to begin the conversation, prior to any sort of clean out whenever possible.
Not only is it traumatizing for the person that hoards it creates a hostile work environment for the person who is expected to deal with the hoarding situation.
From numerous interactions I have had with people who work in a variety of capacities, there is little to no training whatsoever on the issue of hoarding. No training on the mental health aspects involved, no discussion about the trauma that the person that hoards is gone through. No discussion on connecting with the family members that either live in the hoard or escaped it.
This seems to be true for many of the people in professions such as the home health folks, people in social services and property management.
In addition there seems to be a lack of awareness on this issue for folks in the mental health field. They ARE addressing aspects of mental health but there is no discussion about hoarding or the living conditions of their clients. In some cases clients will meet with a counselor for a number of years and NEVER disclose their hoarding issue.
Hoarding creates a lot of personal conflict in a household and if it is never discussed or faced head on, the conflict will likely remain unresolved. The level of shame and denial is rampant in hoarding situations and it can be a challenge to begin even talking about this, let alone work on the “stuff” in the environment.
There are a multitude of industries that encounter hoarding and there is much work to be done on resolving this. Creating a place to talk about this issue is needed across the board and The Hoarding Solution Community is a place for people to connect.
This space is a place to begin having the conversations we need to have. A place to focus on ALL the HUMANS impacted by hoarding.
If you are looking for that space, please join us.
Tammi Moses is the founder and Chief Encouragement Officer of the company Homes Are For Living, LLC dba The Hoarding Solution. This business is proudly Veteran Woman Owned & Operated. We offer virtual consultations, workshops and training on the issue of hoarding.
Tammi believes in empowering & inspiring others to take their adversity and use it for the benefit of others. She is the voice of #AKOPTH-Adult Kids of Parents That Hoard. She is also a voice & advocate for #YLITH – Youth Living in The Hoard. You can connect with Tammi in various ways: email directly or connect on Facebook, Instagram & Twitter. You can also check out The Hoarding Solution Podcast!