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BBC News
6 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Middlesbrough hoarder 'didn't know' behaviour was mental disorder
Like many people across the country, Susan Lindo is a home she shares with her husband Robert is full of stuff with shelves bursting at the brim and piles of boxes and bags on the bedroom is completely inaccessible due to the amount of belongings wedged in night, the 59-year-old from Middlesbrough has to climb over a mountain of bags just to get into always thought her conditions were born out of laziness, but then an interview with BBC Radio Tees changed her life. While talking to the show about her hoarding, she was told it was a mental health interview came after Clouds End CIC in Birmingham, who support hoarders, described the behaviour as "a mental health emergency" which required "urgent action".After she put the phone down, Susan had a life-changing realisation, which she describes as a complete shock. Her hoarding behaviour had begun in her childhood, her parents "were exactly the same" and it was "indescribable" what they had in their home, Susan way of living was "normal" and, despite her best efforts not to be like her parents, when she grew up and got a home of her own, she struggled to stop possessions from amassing."I wasn't brought up to know how to tidy, I didn't even know how to put the vacuum cleaner on," she Robert does, and takes on most of the cleaning, washing and disposing of rubbish. The 63-year-old collects books - he reckons he has more than 2,000 - but has not bought any new ones in months. During the revelatory radio interview, Susan heard a warning from Cleveland Fire Brigade about the dangers of hoarding."Hoarding creates serious fire risks," a firefighter said, adding: "Cluttered homes can easily fuel fires, block escape routes and make it harder for firefighters to respond to emergencies safely."The brigade offers free home safety visits, the spokesman said. "We understand that many people who struggle with it may feel overwhelmed or not fully realise the dangers in their homes."Susan became immediately concerned about the fire risk in her own home, particularly with Robert's collection of books and the reams of paper they have just one exit mapped out, the front door, as the only alternative - the kitchen door - is blocked by bins. "To get out [in a fire]? I honestly don't think we would," she says. Susan is far from alone in her struggles, according to Hoarding Disorders UK, which offers support."There has been a tremendous increase in the volume of calls and emails we have received since [the coronavirus pandemic]," a spokesperson is a mental health and anxiety-based disorder, she explains, and "we are living in anxious times".Rachel Bebbington, a counsellor at Let's Connect in Hartlepool, mental health charity started a project in 2024 offering support with decluttering, deep cleans and psychological can range from deep emotional attachments to particular possessions, to a belief that one day a kept item may have a use, Rachel says. There is also often an overlap between hoarding and self neglect, with physical and mental health issues contributing, while for some like Susan it is a learned behaviour from their will "bury their head in the sand" or not even realise the extent of their problem, while others will feel embarrassed to let people into their homes, Rachel the source or reason, help is available, she urges. Having realised the extent of her disorder, Susan is now feeling motivated to sort her has tried before, appearing on a TV show in 2021 which saw her house decluttered, however she started hoarding time though she is adamant she will tackle it and regularly takes items to a local charity shop, which makes her feel good to be able to help others."My ideal is everything in the place as it should be, I need to get it done because enough is enough," she tackling the mess by chipping away 10 minutes at a time, small chunks so as to not become too overwhelmed by the task."I know what to do, it's getting my mindset sorted," she says. Susan wants people to know there is help out there for those with the disorder."People should not feel ashamed of it, cause I'm not ashamed of it, it's just the way I am, the way I've been brought up," she says."Don't be frightened of asking for help. "I think a lot of people bury themselves in the things they've got, and just think one day it'll [get sorted], but one day might not come." If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this story, information and support can be found at the BBC's Action Line. Follow BBC Tees on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram.
BBC News
10-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Birmingham experts urge more support for hoarding disorder
A social enterprise has warned it is seeing a large rise in people seeking help with severe month Birmingham-based Clouds End CIC said the issue had become a "mental health emergency", and its founder, Heather Matuozzo, said coverage of the issue since then led to more people coming comes as mental health experts across the UK publish an open letter urging the government to increase funding to support people living with hoarding by charities, housing groups and academics, and led by Northumbria University, it warns of a critical situation in the absence of a co-ordinated national mental health strategy. The call for increased awareness comes after the BBC in the Midlands followed Clouds End as it worked with hundreds of hoarders in suggest the condition may affect four million people, but there has been no detailed analytical World Health Organisation (WHO) classified hoarding as a mental health disorder in 2018. The Department of Health & Social Care (DHSC) said the government would "fix the broken system" to ensure mental health was given the same focus as physical health. But hoarding experts say there must be a single unifying policy."Hoarding is often misunderstood, or dismissed as mere clutter, laziness or a lifestyle choice, but it is a complex mental health condition that goes far beyond an inability to organise or let go of possessions", said Prof Nick Neave, chair of the UK Hoarding Partnership."People who hoard often struggle to find adequate support and services, meaning they are frequently overlooked by social care systems, health services, housing authorities and mental health professionals."Individual local authorities, including Birmingham City Council, have developed policies alongside the local NHS, funding third sector organisations to offer emotional support to those with the there is no single UK-wide policy, leading to concerns some people are falling through the cracks and unable to access Matuozzo believes the government needs to take their concerns more seriously."There has never been a more opportune moment to send this open letter", she said, ahead of Hoarding Awareness Week, which starts on Monday."The BBC's coverage of the official request for National Guidelines, prompted by a potential mental health crisis among people who hoard, has opened a door that must remain wide open." The UK Hoarding Partnership, which was established last year, said there should be an integrated multi-agency approach, where mental health services, social care, environmental health, professional organisers, and housing authorities worked together to address the Hamilton, the MP for Birmingham Erdington and vice-chair of the health and social care select committee, agrees."It needs to be a little more joined up, government, the NHS, so it's not just the voluntary sector and others that are trying to cure it", she said earlier this month."We could have some very strong recommendations which we can take to the Department of Health to get into communities," she to the open letter, a DHSC spokesperson told the BBC it was planning to recruit an additional 8,500 mental health workers, and invest £26m to open new community mental health crisis centres, alongside reforms to the Mental Health Act. Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
01-05-2025
- Health
- BBC News
Birmingham MP calls for action on hoarding disorder
Hoarding disorder has become "a national emergency in America", an MP has said, "so we need to look at it here."Paulette Hamilton, Labour MP for Birmingham Erdington, spent years as a district nurse before entering politics. On her care rounds she would sometimes encounter patients living in hoarded homes, where their mental health had deteriorated to such an extent that they were surrounding themselves in personal possessions."You can't just go in and clear a house and that's what people need to understand," Hamilton said. "As a society we have a responsibility to support them, and Heather has shown us the way".The MP is referring to Heather Matuozzo, founder of Birmingham-based social enterprise Clouds End CIC, whose work in communities the BBC has been following for four well as offering hoarding training to professionals nationally, her group has supported more than 300 people in Birmingham who hoard or are at risk of hoarding. It offers people help to declutter their homes while also ensuring they have access to the appropriate mental health support. In a recent meeting in Westminster, Ms Matuozzo informed the MP that the numbers needing support in the city – and those being referred for help - had risen exponentially since the Covid pandemic, something which was likely to have been reflected across the estimates suggested that between 2-5% of the population experienced hoarding disorder, a condition recognised by the World Health Organisation in 2018, but those with direct experience of home visits – including charities and psychologists – said the true figure was far higher, with potentially up to six million people affected in the UK."It needs to be a little more joined up, government, the NHS, so it's not just the voluntary sector and others that are trying to cure it," Hamilton agreed with Ms Matuozzo that new national guidelines may be needed to address a significant increase in people who hoard in the UK. Hamilton said she planned to bring the issue up with the health and social care select committee, of which she is vice chair, "and from this we could have some very strong recommendations which we can take to the Department of Health to get into communities".While individual local authorities such as Birmingham City Council have developed strategies to support hoarders in recent years, there are no national guidelines or single government policy which addresses hoarding directly, something psychologists have been continually pressing while NHS Integrated Care Boards manage funding for a range of mental health conditions in communities, there are no specific funding streams for hoarding, leaving voluntary groups to provide outreach work in most cases."A new approach must be based in empathy and compassion and putting people at the heart of these difficulties first", said Sam Wainman, from the University of Birmingham's school of psychology."I'm continually surprised by how much of a lack of awareness there is among professionals or wider institutions. There is not enough support out there." Ms Matuozzo said this was now the opportunity for the UK to prepare its said: "I've come away from Westminster with a feeling of enthusiasm. It's the first step and it's not going to be overnight to change things, but neither has my whole journey to this point." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
