This full-day online workshop will provide housing, shelter, drop-in and mental health workers with a practical guide to understand and work with those who have challenges discarding and/or acquiring items. This workshop will look at age of onset of hoarding-related behaviours,
and how trauma, attachment, avoidance, other mental health challenges and insight into the hoarding, may impact and potentially lead to safety, health, housing and other challenges.

Through discussion, experiential examples, case studies, group work and/or guest speakers, participants will learn a variety of practical strategies to work with individuals with clutter and hoarding challenges. This workshop will draw upon harm reduction principles, and evidence-based approaches that have shown success related to hoarding, including motivational interviewing, stages of change theory, cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and mindfulness. Additionally, participants will learn organizational principles and strategies that may be helpful to assist in a variety of hoarding and acquiring situations. Community resources will also be presented.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will increase understanding of

• Increased understanding of how trauma, attachment challenges and other factors can increase challenges with acquiring and/or discarding
• Understand how Level of Insight in Hoarding Disorder, (as defined in the DSM-5) and harm reduction principles, can help in building a strategy to address hoarding issues
• Increase understanding of safety and health risks associated with hoarding
• Learn a number of organizational and evidence-based informal counselling techniques to work with hoarding including motivational interviewing, CBT and Mindfulness
• Increased knowledge of community resources related to hoarding