This past spring I was invited to help during the shooting of an episode of A&E TV’s Hoarders program. The client, Ruth, lives in St. Louis and extreme cleaner and show regular Matt Paxton, with whom I’d worked on a previous episode, asked me to recruit a couple of other organizers and help during the shoot.
Tagged with: hoarders, hoarding, television
I had the privilege to work as the lead organizer on an episode of the TLC cable documentary series, Hoarding: Buried Alive. The episode I worked on, whose title is “Unbelievable” will air this Sunday, March 4, at 9 pm eastern/8 pm central. (It’ll air again two hours later.)
Tagged with: hoarding, hoarding: buried alive, television
My friend, Geralin Thomas, CPO-CD®, who is one of the regularly featured organizers on A&E’s Hoarders tv show let me know that tonight on ABC’s 20/20 program, they’ll be doing an episode on children of hoarders.
Tagged with: geralin thomas, hoarders, hoarding
In the past week, two public radio programs had episodes focusing on hoarding.
In 2003, the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (now the Institute for Challenging Disorganization) issued the landmark Clutter Hoarding Scale, an assessment tool that identified five different levels of cluttering and hoarding. It can be used for organizers (or clients) who want to get an objective view of the state of a home. As conditions improve, it can also serve as a measuring tool.
Hot on the heels of the popularity of A&E TV’s Hoarders documentary TV series (the network’s top-rated show), the cable network TLC is producing its own documentary series on hoarding, called Hoarding: Buried Alive.
Tagged with: geralin thomas, hoarding, hoarding: buried alive, television
The Fox News affiliate here in St. Louis, KTVI Channel 2, aired a story two nights ago about hoarding and chronic disorganization. I was interviewed for the piece, along with one of my chronically disorganized clients, LuAnn, who was brave and generous enough to let the cameras into her home in an effort to help others.
Tagged with: chronic disorganization, hoarding, television
I’m back from Los Angeles, where I earned my Certified Professional Organizer in Chronic Disorganization® credential from the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization — more on the significance of that in a post later this week. As usual after a trip, I’m struggling to get back into the swing of my routines. (I’m happy to report that I have managed to clear my desk each evening.)
Tagged with: chronic disorganization, geralin thomas, hoarders, hoarding, yvonne trostli
I’m hooked on A&E Television’s hit documentary series, Hoarders. When I first heard about it (when it was in the production phase), red flags went up. I was afraid the program wouldn’t be respectful to the hoarders who were featured on the show. Or they’d offer unrealistic portrayals or quick fixes.
Tagged with: brenden mcdaniel, david tolin, dorothy breininger, geralin thomas, hoarders, hoarding, matt paxton, television
I’m really excited to watch the new documentary series on A&E Television called Hoarders, which debuts on Monday at 10/9 central on A&E. My good friend, Geralin Thomas, a fabulous organizer in Cary, N.C., is one of the organizers featured on the show. In Monday’s episode, she’s seen helping Jennifer Miller, a mother of three whose husband is also a hoarder.
Tagged with: david tolin, geralin thomas, hoarders, hoarding, television
Most of the people I work with are dealing with clutter. As we work through the stuff and I help the client make decisions about whether to keep items, I’m often amazed at the different ways people feel about letting stuff go.
Tagged with: chronic disorganization, clutter, david tolin, decluttering, disorganization resources, hoarders, hoarding, obstacles, perfectionism
When hoarding makes its way into the media, it’s usually in an article about some sort of tragedy that happened as a result of hoarding. (Firefighters unable to get to put out a fire, someone getting buried under their clutter.) Instead, this article on AlterNet, called How Compulsive Hoarding Can Threaten Your Health and Take Over Your Life helps readers understand hoarders a little better. It takes a compassionate approach, which is refreshing. The article, by Emily Wilson, is based on an interview with Dorothy Breininger of the Delphi Center for Organization, an organizer who really rocks. I’m a big fan of Dorothy’s.
Tagged with: dorothy breininger, geralin thomas, hoarding
This weekend, the National Public Radio program Weekend Edition aired a thoughtful essay called The Tragedy of Stuff, The essay was written by Cathy Duchamp, whose ex-husband, Maury, died suddenly, leaving behind an apartment full of stuff. Cathy and her friends were left with the task of clearing it out.
I’m lucky enough to have an accountability partner in another state. She’s Betty Huotari, of Logical Placement, the president of the Southeast Michigan chapter of NAPO. We’d met at the NAPO national conference in the past, and this year, when the audience was encouraged by speaker Lisa Montanaro to have accountability partners to keep each other on track with our goals, Betty approached me about working together. We talk once a month or so and it’s been great.
Tagged with: add, betty huotari, hoarding, press, sheila mccurdy, st. louis behavioral medicine institute
Thursday and Friday of last week (November 15 and 16), Oprah had a two-part show on hoarding. It was riveting viewing. I was so pleased that they gave the subject its due, treated the hoarder who was featured (and helped) with respect and brought in experts who were spot-on in their advice and assistance.
Tagged with: david tolin, hoarding, oprah, peter walsh
I just got back from an intense five days working with a client in another state. I know from her feedback and from what we accomplished that I really made a difference in her life. That’s what I love about this work!
Tagged with: clutter, coaching, decluttering, hoarding, synergy