Lights, Camera, Hoarders on A & E!

Did you catch Monday's episode of Hoarders? I can finally let the cat out of the bag and tell everyone that I had the pleasure of assisting Geralin Thomas filming this episode which aired on A & E on January 4, 2010. It was very exciting first of all to meet Geralin and work with her. It was also exciting (and at times unnerving) to work with the production company and cameramen.

The client, Jim, who as Geralin says is a, "honey of a guy," was nominated for the show by his daughter's friend. His daughter, who recently had a baby, desperately wanted to be able to bring her daughter to grandpa's house. However, because of the unsafe condition of Jim's home (mold, rodent and dust and clutter issues) was unable to. Jim's home was a level 3 on the Clutter Hoarding Scale (1 being minimal clutter all the way to 5 being structural damage to the home, no running water or heat).

In 16 hours, Geralin, myself and Carrie Fink organized Jim's home. It was the toughest assignment I have ever had. Jim did fairly well with the process. We did hit some bumps in that Jim thought we threw out some valuable items - this is normal for a hoarder and we did not take it personally.

When Jim would begin to get overwhelmed at the process, we would bring him back to the reason for the change, which was his granddaughter. When I mentioned his granddaughter or showed him the photograph of her proudly displayed on the refrigerator, Jim would smile, gather his thoughts and get back to work.

The results of the organizing were amazing. Jim has a great new beginning and with continued support can continue to recover from hoarding.

You can view the full episode by visiting www.aetv.com/hoarders/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Change is uncomfortable - but gorgeous at the end.

Image
Change is uncomfortable.  It makes me uneasy.  It's unsettling.   Have you ever felt the same? Change, for me, was also necessary.  Which is totally contradictory to what I just said, right? A few weeks ago, I was talking with my coach and sharing with her that I was feeling super uncomfortable.  I was somewhat aware that I was changing, but I wasn't giving it my undivided attention.   Carol, my coach, explained to me that I was feeling was completely normal.  And I knew it - but I didn't want to necessarily deal with it.  She asked me to embrace it.  Once I did, I got even more uncomfortable.  It was one of the worst feelings I've ever experienced.  It was difficult for me to make a decision.  Who am I?  Who am I changing into?  Do my old thoughts and ideas match who I am becoming?  How is this change going to change the way I present myself, work with clients, live my life? You know what? The moment I embraced who I was becoming, is the moment that everythi
Read more

Can you see your future?

Image
I was coaching my client, Carolyn today.   She was stuck in a mindset of only seeing her present circumstances or even worse - the past.  She wasn't seeing her future .  Turns out, she never thought about it.   I asked her - W hat it would mean for your life once the paper piles are gone?  What it would mean for your life once the necessary repairs were made to the kitchen and bathroom?  What it would mean for your life once the dread, shame and weight off your shoulders was lifted?  She kept going back to how her home looked right now and the struggles she was faced.  She wasn't seeing her future.  But I was.  Carolyn is so close to having her home decluttered.  But she was still living in the past. I told her that I had a challenge for her.  I asked Carolyn if she would close her eyes and visualize what her home will look like when it is decluttered, when she can find what she needs and when the overwhelming tension has been lifted from her shoulders.  I heard a deep
Read more