Podcast between Neil Whettam (Learning and Development Advisor, Clackmannanshire) and Paul Comley (National Adult Support and Protection Co-ordinator) about hoarding and self-neglect. Covers what hoarding and self-neglect are, choice, capacity, assessment frameworks, and research. Working in these areas can be very challenging and this podcast supports individual and team reflection on these areas of practice. 30 minutes long.
Totally agree with the sentiments within the podcast - resilience, stick-ability, and that building relationships between the person being “supported” and, professionals helping them is key.
For me, working with someone who is hoarding within the framework of Adult Protection should in theory, be synergistic and effective. However, from my experience practitioners tend to feed back the following: that the adult has capacity; that they have decided to live as they are; and legal actions are likely to cause more harm than good. More often than not, practitioners seek to recommend No Further Action and/or "not at risk" as an outcome. I guess this is predicated upon the basis they cannot provide services to resolve the issue in a swift and/or timely fashion, which might be due to the adult refusing assistance and therefore (which is your point when working in these situations, since it can be slow burn on many occasions) practitioners appear reluctant to be there for the long haul. However, when No Further Action is considered this, in reality, deprives “the adult” of any professional social work oversight whatsoever.
By way of summation, I am totally behind your approach and, I think, all too often we rush to find a solution, when the answer is simply to trying to come alongside others.
