Hoarding can be a difficult subject to talk about — especially to the hoarder involved in the situation. What do you say? How do you help? These can be difficult to figure out. But what is hoarding? According to the Mayo Clinic, hoarding is a persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions because of a perceived need to save them. This can be difficult for not only those trying to help, but the hoarder themself. At Fire Dawgs, we’ve put together a guide to help you better navigate these situations and how to help a hoarder. Keep reading to learn more!
How to Help a Hoarder
Ways You Can Help a Hoarder And Their Situation:
- Let Them Know You Are There — Right off the bat, you should let the hoarder know you are there for them. You need to let them know you are an ally and that you want to help them do what’s best for themselves and their situation. Hoarding typically stems from trauma due to some form of alienation or abuse. It is imperative to let them know your intentions and to be genuine.
- Use Respectful Language — How you use your words can be the difference between getting someone to agree with you or making them combative. Don’t use negative words or phrasing when talking about their situation. For example don’t call their items “junk” or “rubbish”, they’ll be less likely to open up to you.
- Listen To Their Wants — Coming into a hoarder’s space and making decisions is way to create tension between yourself and the hoarder. Instead, ask what they would find helpful of you. This gives them more control over the situation and shows you care about their interests.
- Be Respectful Of Their Decisions — Hoarders typically have an attachment to their items. Although you might not understand it, you need to be respectful of their decisions and allow them some lee-way in the items they keep.
- Motivate Them To Seek Help — As aforementioned, hoarding in a psychological battle that stems from some sort of trauma. Typically a hoarder needs professional help to work through this mental process of rebuilding a healthy mindset. But a hoarder may be hesitant to ask for help. Be sure to encourage them to get help and that’s it is perfectly okay to do so.
- Don’t Take Over Their Space — Now that you’ve gain their trust — don’t over step their boundaries. Don’t move or touch things without their permission. Let them take ownership over the situation and address you with requests on what to do with their stuff.
- Don’t Focus On a Total Clean-Up — Take the process one step at a time. Work on small spaces such as a coffee table, kitchen counter, or a small room. Going too big at the beginning can overwhelm both you and the hoarder and put them in even more emotional distress.
- Celebrate Their Successes With Them — This is a long — and often painful — process that needs nurturing and support to be successful. Celebrating the small victories help build rapport between you two and offers positive reinforcement with decluttering.
We hope we provided you with great tips on helping a hoarder and their situation. But have you gotten to the point where everything worth saving has already been moved out of the property, and all that’s left is the junk? Or are you responsible for cleaning up a hoarding situation after the fact, and don’t want to do it yourself? Then we have the solution for you! Give Fire Dawgs Junk Removal a call and we’ll take care of all dirty work with your hoarding situation and get your property junk-free! But how exactly can Fire Dawgs help with you hoarding situation? Keep reading to find out!
HOW CAN FIRE DAWGS JUNK REMOVAL HELP WITH YOUR HOARDING SITUATION?
Fire Dawgs Junk Removal is a locally owned company on a mission to help you get your space back! We are firefighter founded and veteran owned! We can handle any job from shed removals to entire cleanouts — and even simple curbside junk pick-up. Our crews take on the tough jobs that the other guys won’t and get “IT” done! We charge base on the amount of volume your items take up in our 16-cubic yard mini dump trucks. Included in your total cost is all the labor, transportation, and disposal fees! If your property has hazards such as bed bugs or harmful substances, we charge a PPE fee. Click here to view our surcharge list. But the best part about choosing Fire Dawgs Junk Removal? We also reuse, recycle, or donate over 60% of the items we haul away! Making us your eco-friendly option for you hoarding cleanup.
But what services does Fire Dawgs Junk Removal provide for your hoarding situation? Here is list of our most popular services:
- Attic Cleanout
- Apartment Cleanout
- Basement Cleanout
- Cleanouts
- Garage Cleanout
- Storage Unit Cleanout
- And much, MUCH more!
CALL NOW FOR HOARDING CLEAN UP SERVICES!
Ready to get your property clutter-free? Give our friendly, knowledgeable customer service team a call at 800-211-DAWG today to get a quote on your junk hauling service! Can’t phone us? Don’t sweat it! Contact us online here and we will reach out to you. Finally, do you have any videos or pictures of your property? Text them to us at 317-597-4744 to receive a fast and simple electronic quote!
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