PROGRAM ON HOARDING TO BE HELD AT THE CANOE BROOK SENIOR CENTER

Hoarding, it’s a secret in many people’s lives but it also can put people’s lives in danger.  Local public health officials usually do not find out about a hoarder until a situation becomes so bad that it affects someone’s health.  Hoarders are generally identified in our community by police, fire, health departments or social services because the situation is on the cusp of tragedy.   

On Tuesday, June 3rd, at 10:00am TRIAD will present a program on hoarding at the Canoe-Brook Center on Cherry St. in Branford.

The speaker will be Ann-Marie Fagan from the VNA.

Representatives from the

·         East Shore District Health Department,

·         Branford Police Department

·         Branford Fire Department

·         Branford Counseling Center

       will be available to answer questions during the discussion of this issue.

 Whether you know someone who is a hoarder, had your life affected by hoarding, or just want to know more information on the subject, this discussion could be interesting and informative.   

 A FEW FACTS ABOUT HOARDING:

1.    Experts in the field believe 2-5% of Americans are hoarders.

2.    People may hoard objects for many reasons including:

• An intense emotional attachment to objects that others see as trivial -- or even trash. They’d feel a sense of major loss if they had to throw this stuff away.
• A sense that many items have an intrinsic value, like others might see in artwork or driftwood.
• The assumption that an item might be useful someday, which compels them to save far more than “the drawer of hinges, thumbtacks, string, and rubber bands” that many of us keep.

3.    Experts had believed that hoarding was an outgrowth of obsessive-compulsive disorder, but studies show it is much more closely related to major depression disorder, anxiety, and attention deficit disorder.

4.    Hoarding disorder is challenging to treat, but some types of therapy can reduce its severity. The treatment focuses on altering irrational beliefs about the value of objects and providing supervision in the practice of organizing and discarding things. This intervention is not a magic bullet, however because many people with hoarding disorder do not complete their “homework,” which typically involves rearranging and tossing out clutter.