Safeguarding Adults Week | Day Three
Day Three
I Am a Hoarder
I am a social housing tenant with Prima Group, and I'm a Hoarder. (I really hate that label!)
My first involvement with my Hoarding and the “Housing” was over 8 years ago in 2014.
My gas service was due, and because they needed to gain access to the property and I was worried about what they would say about my property condition, I wouldn’t let anyone in. After a few attempts, I spoke to a really nice man who was trying to help me arrange the service before it went to court and because of his concern about me, he contacted the Tenancy Support Officer at Prima Group to help me.
The Tenancy support officer wrote me a letter to start with to introduce herself and asked to come visit me. I didn’t answer to start with, but when she wrote to me again, I decided to phone her. Even though I was scared, I agreed to let her in and she was made up that I had. I shouldn’t have worried, as she put my mind at ease and she had a look round my flat and gave me small challenges to do each day.
That was 8 years ago. We have worked together on and off over the years, and she stayed in touch with me over the years, which I have found really helpful for my mental health these last two years during lockdown. I knew that I had relapsed over lockdown. My mental health had been very poor, I was isolated, and my property condition had gone back to how it was before. I felt upset about this, but they reassured me that we would pick up and start working on it again. We weren’t able to see each other over lockdown, so we she was able to come and visit me again, we arranged for a new visit. She introduced me to my new Housing Officer, so I was comfortable with them both coming out. When we finally met up, we agreed a plan of action. My property is making progress again, and I am proud of myself.
You should never be scared of asking for help. It’s the best decision that I have ever made, with the help of your Housing Officer and Tenancy Support Officer, you can get a lot done.
I have come to think of hoarding like the Grand National, jumping over hurdles, while people who don’t know what you are going through each day, are running around the sides of the fence laughing at you, taking bets on whether you will succeed or not. There is the last, most famous jump, called Beechers Brooke, which although it seems quite a small jump, is actually 6’9’ high, because of the layout of the land. I will be honest you, we will all fall a few times getting over the last hurdle, but if you keep trying, you will get over in the end and all the people who said that you couldn’t do it will be standing at the end wanting to shake your hand, despite knowing they thought that you couldn't.
Hoarding is not a quick fix – it’s a journey. You can’t just hire a skip, throw everything away and think it will just stay tidy. You have to take into account someone’s mental health, the support they have or often don’t have of their friends and family, their physical health as well as their shame and fear. We don’t need more judgement about the property condition, we need to find support from people who will help us and encourage us to do our best until we start to see the change we hope for.