ICHC Training Institute

UPCOMING TRAININGS

Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding and Compulsive Acquiring
Date/Time: Tuesday, May 26, 2009 from 5:30pm to 7:30pm
Location: World Affairs Council of Northern California, 312 Sutter St., San Francisco, CA 94108 (Map)
Trainer: Dr. Michael A. Tompkins, Ph.D.
Cost:$20 by May 21st or $35 at the door
Click here for a flyer and registration form.

Compulsive hoarding syndrome is the acquisition and failure to discard a large number of possessions that appear to be useless or of limited value in attempt to postpone or decrease distress or anxiety. Compulsive hoarding is a feature of several psychiatric disorders including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and is a significant problem in older adults, comprising some 40% of the hoarding complaints to local health departments. Older Adults who Hoard: An Advanced Training for Service Providers Who Serve Older Adults is a daylong workshop that presents the essential features of compulsive hoarding; offers guidelines for assessing the nature of compulsive hoarding in older adults; and, presents guidelines for staging interventions, or devising a harm reduction plan to manage this typically chronic and treatment resistant condition. We conclude the workshop with the attendees presenting particular cases that we will use to illustrate how they can apply the previously presented strategies to their own cases.

MHA-SF holds trainings for housing providers, In-Home Supportive Services workers, case managers and other professionals who work with those who compulsively hoard through the development of a Hoarding and Cluttering Training Institute. The Training Institute provides half day and day-long trainings for specialized professions on compulsive hoarding. Trainings for professionals will provide Continuing Education Units (CEUs). All training participants receive an MHA-SF Certificate of Completion. Trainings are provided by MHA-SF staff, Michael A. Tompkins Ph.D. of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy and other local experts affiliated with MHA-SF.

Trainings focus on harm-reduction rather than treatment, per se. Harm reduction assumes that it is not necessary to stop all compulsive acquiring, or to clear homes completely in order to stop harm, and proposes that the goal of stopping all acquiring or removing all clutter is unrealistic. Harm reduction emphasizes improving the safety, health and comfort of persons who hoard, while also improving relationships between the person who hoards and his or her family members or caregivers.

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