Excerpt: "How To Find a Therapist When YOU Don’t Need One"

Heidi Schulz, CPO-CD, Collaborative Therapy for Clutter Management, and Roland Rotz, PhD, Lifespan Development Center

A note from the Assistant Editor: The following is an excerpt from the presentation “How to Find a Therapist When YOU Don’t Need One” given by Heidi Schulz, CPO-CD and Roland Rotz, Ph.D., at the SFBA NAPO annual regional conference on October 24, 2003. Heidi Schulz and Roland Rotz are pioneers in the development of Collaborative Therapy and have been working together since 2002. The full text of this presentation with resources on finding collaborative therapists can be found on Heidi’s website.

A note from the authors: Collaborative Therapy for Clutter Management© is a fluid and constantly evolving protocol. We have learned a great deal since this was written in 2003, as emerging research sheds more light on this complex client population. We invite you to visit the NSGCD website, www.NSGCD.org, or our respective websites for up-to-date revisions.

Definition of Collaborative Therapy

Collaborative Therapy involves psychotherapists and professional organizers working side by side with their clients to facilitate interventions that will help to maintain environmental change in the home, as well as lasting change within the client. This is a challenging and confrontational, yet supportive and understanding effort to assist the client in removing excessive items to which they feel extremely attached. Frequently, these items may symbolize a component of their emotional relationships. Collaborative Therapy challenges their emotional and physical connection to their “stuff,” offering reasonable alternatives that provide long-term solutions.

Warning signs for Collaborative Therapy

• Physical debris — interior and exterior, see NSGCD Clutter-Hoarding Scale.
• Excessive attachments to papers, pets, pictures, clothes, memorabilia and "stuff."
• Chronic, severe disorganization that has persisted over a long period of time, often the majority of one’s adult life and is prone to continuing into the future.
• Disorganization that undermines one's quality of life on a daily basis.

• Emotional debris.
• Isolated from social contacts.
• Few friends.
• Repeated, failed attempts to declutter and get organized.
• Pictures of home not brought to therapy session as promised.
• A history of failed self-help efforts.

• Lack of motivation — can’t get started.
• Sleeping locations are variable — chairs, sofa, or the floor; the bed is buried under "stuff."
• Most of the day is spent in bed.
• Emotional distress, sadness, depression and anger are common.
• Family, friends, neighbors have not seen the inside of the house for years.
• Relationships are conflicted and polarized.
• Persistent disorganization has been a lifelong challenge.

Collaborative Therapy: The Process

Discovery is the on-site, information gathering walk-through of the home. The organizer, client and other involved parties are present. Generally, the psychotherapist is not present. Photographs "before" are taken to establish the dimensions of the clutter and to become the benchmark for progress achieved. Copious notes are taken to record the 'who, what, when, where and why' of treasures, collections, misplaced items, areas of concern, emotional conflicts, pets, children — anything that will expand our fund of information.

Intake takes place in the psychotherapist’s office. Therapist, organizer, client and other involved parties, such as family members, guardian, social workers, ADHD and/or other coaches, and landlord are present. This is a team effort to develop mutual trust and respect. We all work together in a supportive relationship with common goals and guidelines.

• Emotional/Behavioral Change — Using the Collaborative Therapy model to develop therapeutic goals, specifically identifying the traumatized attachments that emerge from the forced change of decluttering and organizing.
• Environmental Change — decluttering, organizing and backup systems for maintenance.

• Change entrenched habits and beliefs about themselves and their possessions.
• Create a climate of hope and a vision of how their new life and home will look.

• Photographs, documenting the evolution of change — Before/Progressive/After.
• Goals are established — therapeutic, decluttering and organizational.
• Standards for health and safety defined and agreed upon.
• Release forms are signed to assure confidentiality of client.
• Contract and Statement of Confidentiality — signed, dated and witnessed.

Support Sessions are scheduled in the therapist's office. Therapist, organizer, client and other involved parties are present. We are all on the same page! "He said — She said" scenarios are significantly diminished. Conflict resolution, goals, agreements, snags, crises, backsliding can all be brought to the table, discussed and solutions reached.

• To accumulate and pre-establish a diverse network of colleagues who will be effective matches for Collaborative Therapy.
• Psychologists and professional organizers benefit from creating an equal partnership.

Collaborative Therapy uses a combination of professional organizers and therapists to affect change on multiple levels with their client. Working as a team, clients are helped to identify the nature of their attachment to their "stuff." With this understanding, they are able to choose more appropriate selections for their attachments. This frees them to remove the excessive items from their environment.

Photographs can be shared with the therapist and well-earned praise and acknowledgment expressed to the client.

Therapy Sessions are held in the therapist's office. Therapist and client can discuss, with full confidentiality, the issues the client is facing. Traumatized attachment to items will often be the center of discussions, (i.e.: emotionally attached contents inside the "box").

Decluttering/Organizing — Removing each paper pile or object is a potential source of trauma for the client. The clear guidelines, supportive goals and open communication that have been negotiated during the Intake session can help smooth the decluttering process and defuse the conflicting emotions and traumatized attachments. When necessary, the conflicting issues can be taken to the Support or Therapy sessions and addressed there. At times, the therapist may make a "house visit" to encourage support or assist in conflict resolution.