HOARDING behaviour can be brought on by a whole host of different reasons: a loss of a loved one, past trauma or many other reasons.

The key is how do people break these cycles and what can be done to help.

One of the UK’s leading housing associations, VIVID, has teamed up with a group of counsellors to help people who display hoarding behaviour.

VIVID’s Homeless Prevention team has teamed up with certified counsellors to support customers facing hoarding issues at home.

Homeless Prevention Team Leader, Jo Proctor, told the Gazette: “With people that show hoarding behaviour there can be a sense of isolation.

“People that show signs of hoarding behaviour will display it in a range of different ways and it usually stems from some form of trauma, which on occasion they don’t event realise.

“This is where the counsellors come in and work with the clients at their own pace.”

Hoarding disorder is a pattern characterised by excessive acquisition of, and an inability or unwillingness to discard, large quantities of objects that cover the living areas of the home and cause significant distress or impairment.

And Jo and her team have seen people hoard anything from pets to human waste.

However, the Homeless Prevention Team is working with counsellors such as Faye Wheeler.

Faye said: “We want people to feel like they are in control and comfortable in what they are doing.

“We work with them empathetically and work with them in an open approach. We give them the autonomy to understand what they need to do to help.

“It isn’t about focusing on what the issue is surrounding the hoard, it is ensuring that we help them work more on themselves.

“We give them back the power to change their lives if they want to.”

Jo added: “It’s so important to identify and support customers showing signs of hoarding as early as possible, often because these are indicators of more deep-seated mental health issues as well as creating poor living conditions and physical health risks.”

When someone is refereed to the counsellors each case is assessed and evaluated so the counsellors know what the best course of action is for the individual.

Jo continued: “There is no quick fix when it comes to hoarding behaviour and the better understanding people have of it there won’t be any stigma surrounding those people who do hoard.

“There is a misconception that people who hoard are dirty, but you can have clean hoarders who just show specific signs of behaviour and it is down to us and the counsellors to try and get to the root of what has caused these behaviour.”

With the two teams working in partnership, Faye added that the counsellors give the emotional support to clients, while the Homeless Prevention team gives them structural support.

Faye added: “The important thing is to make sure that they don’t feel isolated.

“The worst thing a person can do is humiliate or take things away from people with hoarding behaviour without warning as it could re-traumatise a person.”

Jo said that once a person is showing signs of good behaviour there is constant “after care” to make sure that the client does not fall back into old habits and make sure that they are supported for as long as they are needed or the team deems appropriate.