10/11/2026
I got my start in professional organizing when I lived in Pittsburgh. I had the great privilege of working with Vickie Dellaquila of Vickie Dellaquila , who had a background in social work along with extensive training/experience working with clients on the hoarding spectrum. I also had the opportunity to provide background organizing support on an episode of Hoarders with Matt Paxton .
Oftentimes, Vickie and I were called in at the behest of distressed family members with one major caveat: the person and/or people at the center of the situation had to be ready and willing to change.
On the episode of Hoarders that I helped film, the client was not only facing family pressure but her home was about to be condemned by the city. 3 days and thousands of dollars later, all we were able to achieve was to clear paths in the house for EMS. Despite the circumstances, she just simply didn't want to get rid of her stuff.
When I see commentary online about hoarding situations, I get especially upset when I see people say things like, "how did the family let it get like that?!" I would bet money that if the family is aware (sometimes the behavior is hidden), they have already tried everything in their power to help and are totally exasperated.
I say this as the daughter of a man (pictured above) with significant mental health issues, whose family tried everything in our power to get him to do the things that he needed to do to stay healthy. The problem was that he didn't believe he was ill and he started declining treatment. And that meant that he got worse and worse until he set the house on fire and we had to cut contact for our own physical safety.
I guarantee that anyone with a family member dealing with a mental illness, hoarding disorder or otherwise, would love to be able to singlehandedly convince their loved one to seek help or make changes. The truth is that no one can make someone change who isn't ready to change. No one can make someone do what they don't want to do.
Please don't put it all on the families. It's so much more nuanced. To start, let's find ways as a society to fund professional mental health and hands-on services for people in need.