Professional Hoarding Practitioner Training

Do you work with people with complex needs or issues related to hoarding or extreme disorganisation? 

Have you thought of working with people who exhibit hoarding behaviours but want some reassurance before giving it a go?

The aim of our one-day courses is to teach professional practitioners about how to make sustainable progress when working with clients, service users, tenants, patients and their support networks, as well as some of the challenges and stigmas you might face along the way and how to reduce the risk of them happening.

By the end of each day you'll have a better understanding of some of the complexities you’d be letting yourself in for by working with people who live with extreme amounts of clutter, and whether the it makes sense for you personally, or for your business.

Who attends?
Our interactive training empowers all the agencies affected by hoarding behaviours and associated issues, including:

• Environmental Health Officers
• Charity workers
• Professional Organisers
• Community Health Officers
• Housing professionals
• Care workers
• Social workers
• Fire & Rescue Service
• Specialist support workers
• Occupational Therapists
• Healthcare professionals

Trainees are encouraged to share their experiences with the group, to help everyone understand each other's perspectives and challenges, and the importance of close multi-agency collaboration.  

Our aim is to end up with a community of professional friends and colleagues who follow common best practices when working with people affected by hoarding behaviours, and support each other through what can be challenging and sometimes emotionally draining experiences.

Training groups are limited to a maximum of 14, so there should be plenty of opportunities to ask questions – please help us make the day as interactive as possible!

STAGE 1

Venues & Dates

Solihull
- Currently on hold due to COVID-19 (date to be confirmed)

Cost per person: £195 including refreshments & lunch 

Course content includes:

• Hoarding Disorder Overview
• Traits of people with hoarding behaviours
• Common causes
• Reasons for Saving
• Tactics and How to Develop Them with the Client
• Some Techniques
• Key Stakeholders
• Practical Challenges
• Is it right for you or your business? 
• Support for clients 
• Safeguarding ourselves

Pre-training requirements - No requirements

To book please contact Jo Cooke - jo@hoardingdisordersuk.org  

STAGE 2

Solihull

- Currently on hold due to COVID-19 (date to be confirmed)

Cost per person: £195 including lunch and refreshments

Course overview:

This one-day course expands on Clouds End’s/Hoarding Disorders UK’s/Rainbow Red’s Hoarding Awareness Training for Professional Practitioners Stage 1 training, and examines in more detail (through practical case study exercises) some of the proven techniques and tools used by professional organisers and agencies to help hoarders achieve a more functional and energising environment in which to live.

By the end of the day you will have an overview of current best practice processes and be able to use a number of risk assessment and measurement tools designed to empower you to help people affected by extreme cluttering and hoarding behaviours make a positive and sustainable difference to their homes and their lives.

Course content includes:

• Getting through the door (if you’re lucky)
• How to stay there and how to make progress
• Assessments, measuring progress & reporting
• Safety in the home - from a member of the Fire and Rescue Service
• Hoarding task forces, multi-agency groups & hoarding protocols
• Examples of extreme situations – eg. eviction, squalor (Environmental Health), animal hoarding
• Legal stuff - Mental Capacity Act 2007, Mental Health Act, Care Act 2014 & Advocacy
• The voice of a person with lived experiences of hoarding behaviours - with the opportunity to ask them questions

Pre-training requirements - It will make MUCH more sense if you've attended our Level 1 training!

To book please contact Jo Cooke - jo@hoardingdisordersuk.org 

STAGE 3

Currently on hold due to COVID-19 (date to be confirmed)

It's not about the stuff - it's about the people

Cost per person: £195 including lunch and refreshments

Course overview: 

• Introductions
• Stage 2 re-cap & reflections
• Fears, blocks & gaps
• Case study exercises
• Change
• Case studies
• Group discussions
• Mindfulness
• Applying motivational interviewing and other techniques in the context of working with hoarding behaviours
• Therapies
• Lessons learned

Pre-training requirements:  Must have attended Stage 2 of our Professional Hoarding Practitioner training (and preferably Stage 1 too - otherwise it won't make as much sense) 

To book please contact Jo Cooke - jo@hoardingdisordersuk.org  

Testimonials

"Fabulous day at the Professional Hoarding Practitioner Training today, Stage 2 tomorrow.

Head buzzing with ideas, and heart is full knowing what I’m doing with my clients is not only right, but also the way forward. I love learning from others, and in this job there’s always something to learn. Rainbow Red UK, Clouds End CIC & Hoarding Disorders UK CIC know their stuff!"
Heather Tingle - Untangled by Tingle - March 2020

"What an absolute joy to learn from Heather, Jo and Cherry, three amazing ladies who care, support and give so much.

The training content was fabulous but more important was the infectious energy and enthusiasm with which the reality of the problem and practical solutions were shared. Hearing from Steph and Keith’s story, as former hoarders, were so moving they made me want to help others to find a way out. LOVED IT!!! Thank you".

Jo Cavalot, DOTTYMOW, Sheffield – September 2019

"Excellent training. Thoroughly enjoyed the level 1 course"

Paul Cooper - Hoarding Disorders UK

"All aspects of today’s training were exceptional. Certainly very though provoking. Gained additional knowledge and understanding. Sincere thanks to you all".  

Gail Tranter, Environmental Health, Newark & Sherwood DC - October 2018

I just wanted to say ‘Thank you’ for a informative and useful training day today. I left the day feeling informed and keen to learn more. You are all very inspiring women".

Anon – July 2018

"The training left me wanting more even though I am still not sure that dealing with serious hoarding clients is for me. So, I would like to come to level 2 when you run it.  I also think that the work that the three of you do is nothing short of amazing. As I said to you yesterday, this seems more like a vocation. It was so interesting to hear some of your case studies and also very moving".
Mary D – July 2018

"Very well presented, very clear and easy to understand.  Trainers are very knowledgeable and thoroughly enjoyed it. Look forward to Level 3 :-)"

"Really enjoyed this course, very empowering, thank you"

"Another brilliant day - motivating!"

About the Trainers

Heather, Jo and Cherry are all ILM^* and NCFE^* Accredited trainers.

*Training Accreditations:  

• ILM = The Institute of Leadership & Management
• NCFE = a registered educational charity

Between us we have over 20 years’ experience of working with people with extreme cluttering and hoarding problems, and regularly deliver training, coaching and advice to a variety of organisations including housing associations, mental health teams, charities, fire and rescue services and social care teams.  

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Heather Matuozzo founded the social enterprise Clouds End CIC in 2007, and is a professional trainer, declutterer, and activist for people who hoard. 

She co-founded the Pan London Hoarding Task Force and National Hoarding Task Force initiative, and runs three hoarder support groups in the West Midlands. 

Heather has taken part in BBC’s documentaries including Britain’s Biggest Hoarders; talks frequently on the radio; is Chair of the charity HoardingUK, and is an associate trainer for the mental health charity MIND.

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Jo Cooke is a Director of the Community Interest Company Hoarding Disorders UK, and also runs her own professional organising and decluttering business Tapioca Tidy.

She has been featured in The Guardian newspaper, and is the author of the book “Understanding Hoarding” which is fast becoming the “go to manual” for hoarders, their families and agencies that work with people exhibiting hoarding behaviours.

Jo runs three hoarding support groups (Bracknell, Newbury and Reading), and was a finalist in the Venus Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award 2018.

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Cherry Rudge of Rainbow Red is on a personal and professional development journey because her father had hoarding behaviours.  She was a Board Member of the Association of Professional Declutterers & Organisers (APDO), is a Member of the National Fire Chiefs Association’s Hoarding Working Group, and helped organised the first ever UK Hoarding Awareness Week in 2014.

Cherry is a Dementia Friend, a Trustee at an ADHD/Autism Support Group (Fastminds in Kingston-upon-Thames), and devised the Hoarding Ice-Breaker form to empower people whose health has been affected by disorganisation, clutter and hoarding to start a conversation with a GP or medical professional, so they can be signposted for appropriate treatment and practical support.

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Cherry and Heather delivered the UK’s first Hoarding Awareness Training for Professional Organisers in 2014.

"Understanding Hoarding" - by Jo Cooke

"Understanding Hoarding" by Jo Cooke is the first book of its kind in the UK that''s been written by a British author (most of the other books about hoarding have originated in the US).

If, like me, your life has been touched or changed by hoarding behaviours and you'd like to understand more about it, then I encourage you to invest in this book - it's been compared to the international works of Steketee, Frost et al, all of whom are experts and published authors on the subject.

Jos' book is easy to read, sensitively written, empathetic and practical, and includes contributions and case studies from hoarders themselves, families of hoarders, professional practitioners, the Fire & Rescue Service and others.

Jo Cooke of
Hoarding Disorders UK CIC

Jo's insight into the world of hoarding comes as a result of being the daughter of a hoarder - as am I.  

It lead her to eventually set up a specialist social enterprise called Hoarding Disorders UK CIC (Community Interest Company) based in Newbury, Berkshire, as well as two (currently) hoarding support groups.

I hadn't read the book prior to it being launched, and have been absolutely delighted by it - it really does live up to one of the reviews on Amazon, written within only two days of the book being published:



"The definitive book on understanding hoarding.   It is both an easy read and beautifully written. It will become the bible for people affected by hoarding. Hoarders themselves, families of hoarders, and people that come into contact with hoarders such as social workers, housing officers, the fire services and many others.

As well as addressing what is hoarding and why people hoard it gives good advice on decluttering and sustainability.

Jo writes in an easy style with a great deal of commonsense, knowledge and passion.Everything you need to know is in this book, the complete guide."  

Very sadly many children of hoarders fall out with their parents; the stuff can tear resentful families apart.

I wish it had been available as I was growing up, so that I could have learned what might be behind my controlling father's habits.  It would have given me the knowledge to look beyond the stuff and work towards developing a stronger and more emotionally rewarding relationship with him. 

In later life he developed Alzheimer's, which made caring for him (and then clearing out his house once he'd died) a time consuming, financially draining and emotional roller coaster of a journey.

Jo very kindly invited me to contribute to "Understanding Hoarding", and has even credited me in the acknowledgement at the beginning, for which I'm truly grateful!  

So I must thank some very special people, without whom my contributions to the book would not have been possible.

Firstly, my client Peter - for allowing me to tell his story.  Next, Sheena Crankson and Felix Pring of FAST Minds ADHD Support Group in Kingston-upon-Thames - for their support in helping me create the diagram (below) for the book.  

It's designed to give people an insight into the thought processes of the ADHD Brain in the context of organising, clutter, disorganisation and hoarding, and has been well received by people with ADHD.

The day after "Understanding Hoarding" was published, a lady who has the condition (as do members of her family) asked if it would be OK to take it to school to show the teachers, to help them understand how difficult and debilitating it can be to have ADHD/ADD.

Members of my local ADHD support group were very excited to see the difficulties they have with clutter and disorganisation shown in picture form (because pictures paint a thousand words).

Heather Matuozzo of Clouds End CIC (founder of the first social enterprise in England specialising in hoarding behaviours) has been a great mentor and friend on my personal and professional development journey, and has also made an invaluable contribution to Jo's book.

And finally, I must thank my late parents - without whom I would not be writing this blog now.

I will always be grateful to Jo Cooke for allowing me to contribute to her wonderful book, and for empowering readers to look at their possessions, other people's possessions and other people's lives differently.  

Because hoarding isn't about the stuff, it's about the people.