Urgent help needed for people with hoarding challenges
March 5, 2024
Tasmania continues to have a significant unmet need for tailored support services to assist people who have challenges with hoarding and maintaining a safe and healthy home.
The issue has been repeatedly highlighted by Anglicare Tasmania In budget submissions, reports and presentations. Anglicare’s Treasured Lives project released in 2021 estimated there were around 5000 older Tasmanians whose home environments posed serious safety and health risks and added to their social isolation.
Anglicare’s Social Action and Research Centre Coordinator Mary Bennett says years later, the issue remains unaddressed and people and organisations are still requesting practical, on-ground assistance for Tasmanians living with hoarding.
“Unfortunately there is very little available in our State. There is a place for intensive clean-ups or rubbish removal but when it’s not accompanied by clinical and psychosocial support, it does not address the person’s underlying need and can actually harm their mental health and their relationships with family and friends,” said Ms Bennett.
“This issue crosses various government areas which may explain why it remains unaddressed,” she said. “However, the need in our community is real and requires a coordinated and urgent response.”
CEO of Mental Health Family and Friends Louise Cornish said the issue caused significant challenges for family and friends.
“These include fractured relationships, grief from being isolated from their loved one, the financial Impact and navigating the lack of appropriate services that would keep their loved one safe and prevent them from becoming homeless,” she said.
“There is a great need for more targeted, specialised services including holistic models of care that support the whole person, and preventative and early intervention programs for at risk cohorts, including specialised support services for young people.”
Mental Health Family and Friends client story – Anita*:
I’m worried my family member is going to die because there’s nobody to help them
My close family member has had a lot of grief and loss in their life, perhaps that’s why they find it hard to throw things out.
“There’s a lot of broken bits of furniture and bits and pieces scattered around their garden and the grass is very long. Inside the house, stuff is piled high against the walls, and it’s hard to walk around. Sometimes I’ve tried to help them by tidying up to make it easier to find things, but they get angry with me so I stopped doing it.
I’ve been trying to find someone who can help me to help my family member ‘the right way’. I’ve rung everyone I can think of – council, mental health services, community health services, the local neighbourhood house, the police, the fire brigade and various charities. Everybody said they wished they could help but it wasn’t their job. Council gave me contact details of an organising company in Melbourne, and one charity suggested I talk to another charity in NSW.
I’m worried there’ll be a fire and my family member won’t be able to get out of the house quickly enough. Or something will fall on them and we won’t know until it’s too late.
It’s not just me and my family who are worried. The neighbours are worried too, and afraid a fire might start and spread to their place.
If my family member was homeless or alcoholic there’d be a service to help them. But there’s no service in Tasmania to help people with this illness. I feel all alone and I’m worried my family member will die because there’s nobody to help them.
*Anita is not her real name. We’ve changed it to protect her privacy.
The image above is taken from Anglicare’s Treasured Lives project.
More information
Mental Health Family and Friends Tasmania
