Professional Help For Hoarders
One of the things that we know about hoarding after carrying out so many house clearances is that the victims of hoarding are often very ashamed of their habit, and that this sometimes prevents them from finding the professional help that they need.
One classic example of this occurred recently when we were called to a house clearance at a property in Oxford. The elderly female occupant had died only a few weeks earlier and her family had been shocked to discover that she was a compulsive hoarder.
They absolutely had no idea about her hoarding habit, and the reason for this was because she had hidden it so well from them for many years, probably decades.
No Space to Move
We never know what we are going to encounter when we take on a hoarded house clearance and in this house we had to make a real effort to even get into the back door because there were so many items piled up to prevent us from going in. Every room was filled with clutter, books, newspapers, furniture and countless other junk, with only a tiny space in the living room for watching the TV.
Very Protective of Objects
Many hoarders know that what they are doing is not normal, and they do not want other people, even their close family to see it. But there is another reason why people hide their collections away and that is because they are very protective over them.Many people affective by compulsive hoarding do not like anyone else touching their items and get very upset when things are moved. It is also for this reason that you have to be so careful when carrying out a clearance of such a property because it can have serious psychological implications if the occupants do not get the professional help they need.
Be Understanding with Hoarding
If you come across a case of compulsive hoarding the first thing to remember is to be understanding of the condition. This is a mental condition and if you fail to understand the shame and the protectiveness that the sufferers feel it will be a lot harder to solve the problem.
We are always very careful when clearing out properties to be respectful of the items that we remove, and we also have a strict privacy policy to guarantee the privacy of our clients.
For confidential advice or a free quote call Jeffrey Avery directly at our Oxfordshire office on 0800 567 7769
