The Hoarding Handbook A Guide for Human Service Professionals

by Bratiotis, Christiana; Sorrentino Schmalisch, Cristina; Steketee, Gail

• ISBN13: 9780195385519
• ISBN10: 0195385519
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-06-22
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Hoarding is a serious, time-consuming, and expensive problem for virtually every community across the United States. First responders often encounter hoarding unexpectedly and are confused about how to resolve the wide range of problems, from public health and fire safety violations, to housing violations, to concern for the welfare of children, elders and animals. Sometimes solutions must be coordinated across several human service disciplines. The first of its kind, this handy guide is a nuts and bolts resource filled with case studies, tips and strategies, and easy-to-use suggestions for professionals responding to hoarding situations. Organized around the common ways hoarding captures the attention of social service providers, this user-friendly guide provides tools to assess the problem, to coordinate and delegate tasks among helping professionals, and to work directly with reluctant hoarders and those affected by the hoarding. Chapters give hands-on guidance and decision trees for who should be involved and what strategies are needed for each case. This book is compassionate and comprehensive, an invaluable reference for social workers and human service providers in a broad range of fields.

Author Biography

Christiana Bratiotis, PhD, is a post-doctoral fellow at the Boston University School of Social Work.

Cristina Sorrentino Schmalisch, PhD, is a psychotherapist in private practice at the Lydian Center for Innovative Medicine and a staff therapist at Hope Psychological Services.

Gail Steketee, PhD, is Dean and Professor at the Boston University School of Social Work.

Table of Contents

Contributors xi
Introduction	p. xiii
Hoarding and Its Effects	p. 3
Special Challenges: Interpersonal Aspects of Working with Hoarding	p. 17
Working with Service Delivery Systems: The Hoarding Task Force Model	p. 30
Assessment of Severity and Risks to Self and Others With contribution	p. 45
Hoarding and Mental Health Services	p. 57
Hoarding and Housing With contributions	p. 74
Hoarding and Public Health and Safety With contributions	p. 84
Hoarding and Protective Services	p. 98
Hoarding of Animals With contributions	p. 99
Hoarding and the Legal System	p. 125
Medical Aspects of Hoarding	p. 142
Role of Professional Organizers	p. 154
Next Steps in Services for Hoarding	p. 168
Appendix
Hoarding Interview	p. 179
Hoarding Rating Scale	p. 184
Clutter Image Rating	p. 186
Activities of Daily Living-Hoarding Scales	p. 191
Saving Inventory-Revised	p. 194
Home Environment Index	p. 198
Homes Multidisciplinary Hoarding Risk Assessment	p. 203
Metropolitan Boston Housing Partnership, Inc.
Inspections Hoarding Referral Tool	p. 207
Tufts Animal Care and Condition Scale	p. 209
Resources	p. 211
Glossary	p. 217
References	p. 221
Index	p. 227
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.