Charity boss highlights need for a new approach to tackling hoarding disorder
Reaching CIC's CEO calls for a shift from clearance to therapeutic support
Georgina Salt, CEO and founder of Reaching CIC, has spoken out about the pressing need to change how society addresses hoarding disorder, urging a shift from a "cleaning clearance model" to a more therapeutic approach.
Hoarding disorder, a diagnosable mental health condition that can manifest as early as the teenage years, often persists throughout a person's life, according to Salt.
She emphasised the importance of understanding the individual behind the behaviour rather than focusing solely on the items collected:
“Rather than focusing on the objects that they collect, what we're learning more and more is the importance of focusing on the individual and why they hoard. That's probably the most important thing to know about hoarding.”
Salt explained that the triggers for hoarding can vary widely, from growing up in a hoarded environment to experiencing trauma or scarcity during childhood:
“For some people, they might have lived in a hoarded property...They might have had traumatic experience, particularly in younger life...So there's lots of people come to us and their own story will very much map out the reasons why they may now hoard.”
Despite the increasing recognition of hoarding as a significant issue, Salt highlighted the lack of resources and diagnostic pathways available to those affected:
“So we've only worked with one person that's had a formal diagnosis. Just think about that. Most of us have some kind of diagnosis of some kind, but imagine not having the validation of a diagnosis.”
She pointed to the UK Hoarding Partnership, a national organisation working to bring attention to hoarding disorder, noting that meaningful legislative discussion has only recently begun:
"It was only discussed and debated for the first time this year in Parliament...This year was the first time in Staffordshire, they're just pushing through their first, very first protocol and we've been supporting them in doing that."
Salt called for reallocating funds spent on forced clearances into preventative measures:
“We absolutely need to change the narrative. We need to move away from a cleaning clearance model into a therapeutic model. And that's so important and it's going to cost money, but actually the money's there, but it's just being spent in forced clearances. So we need to take that money and use it in a preventative way.”
Reflecting on the widespread impact of hoarding, Salt shared her personal insight into the scale of the issue:
“I speak to a lot of people about hoarding and I don't think I've spoken to many people who haven't known somebody...in my family. So when you think of the scale of that and to have no resources to support that community, it's quite astonishing really. We need to raise the profile.”