NAPO-NY News, August-September 2008

Letter from the President

Dear Colleague,

The enthusiasm that was generated in last month’s (June) chapter meeting is already spreading! At that meeting, NAPO-National's President-Elect Laura Leist presented us with an update on NAPO's Strategic Plan. She also facilitated a discussion and answered questions about NAPO and the organizing industry. Most importantly, Laura gave us the much needed boost to move our chapter in a new direction. At the beginning of the evening we asked for volunteers to form a refreshment committee since everyone enjoys snacking at our chapter meetings, but no one volunteered. By the end of the evening, three volunteers signed up for not just one but two committees. Thank you Laura for inspiring the action!

At this month's (July) chapter meeting we were fortunate to have NAPO-NY's own Sheila Delson speak to us about chronic disorganization and hoarding. There is no other professional organizer in the country who is more qualified to speak about this topic — how lucky we are to have Sheila in our chapter. Sheila's presentation was followed by the movie Stuffed and a question and answer period. Over 90% of the members who filled out the program evaluation form stated that they would be interested in continuing to learn about the topic with Sheila by attending a Professional Development Seminar. What a great way to re-start our PDS and webinar programs. We promise to present more programs of this caliber in the future!

Not only was July's program interesting, the turnout was terrific. New and prospective members are joining our chapter. In the last month alone, we’ve had three new organizers and three prospective organizers attend our meetings. Next month we are planning an informal picnic gathering in Central Park. It will be a great opportunity for everyone to get to know one another better. New organizers will have plenty of time to talk with veteran organizers, and all of us can relax and enjoy the fun activities that are planned for the evening.

Our chapter is growing. We're getting to know one another. We're becoming more knowledgeable. The enthusiasm is contagious and we've only just begun. Way to go!

Diana Soll, CPO^®
President, NAPO-NY Chapter

OUR MISSION

NAPO-NY is committed to serving the needs of its membership and the organizing industry by promoting high professional standards, providing on-going professional development and a networking forum for members, and increasing public awareness of the organizing profession.

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

• Letter from the NAPO-NY President
• Letter from the Editor
• ISSUE FEATURE: Collaborative Therapy/Hoarding

NAPO-NY MEMBER NEWS

• New Members
• Applause, Please
• Member Spotlight
• Golden Circle
• Volunteer Opportunities

REVIEWS & RESOURCES

Product Spotlight: Click Clack® Airtight Storers
• Book/Blog/Magazine Reviews

MEMBER BENEFITS INFORMATION

• Chapter Business
• NAPO-NY Neighborhood Groups
• Resource Reminder
• Library
• Referral System
• BCPO^® Certification for Professional Organizers

Letter from the Editor

Sooner or later, most professional organizers encounter a client whose unhealthy attachment to their "stuff" is causing them distress and affecting their ability to enjoy life. Since most of us are not trained or qualified to address the psychological and characteralogical issues at the root of such problems — and lasting change is unlikely to occur unless they are addressed — what's our best course of action? We hope this issue of the Newsletter will provide some answers to that important question.

I'd like to thank all the therapists and organizers who contributed their wisdom, knowledge and experience to this issue of the Newsletter. We appreciate your sharing it with the rest of us.

And thank you to everyone else who made contributions. We couldn't do this without your invaluable help!

Back to Top

ISSUE FEATURE: Collaborative Therapy/Hoarding

A Therapist’s-Eye View: Organizers and Therapists Working Together

Kathy Bacon-Greenberg, PhD, Clinical Psychologist

A patient of mine, someone I’ll call Sandy, worked with me for a number of years. She grew tremendously in her self-confidence and was promoted to a very responsible position, but could never let an organizer into her apartment to help her with her significant clutter problem. If you have such a client, and he or she has allowed you into the house or apartment, your client has already crossed a great barrier — the shame of letting someone in. And, that someone is you! Your client has let you into a previously private space that has, at least for some, been the source of great shame. Since you don’t have a client unless this threshold has been crossed, it may not have occurred to you. But it is truly something to take note of, privately to yourself, or maybe with your client, by offering congratulations on the bravery, trust, and hope that has been expressed in letting you enter that cluttered space.

A therapist, on the other hand, never actually sees the chaos, the clutter, the mess. As Sandy said to me, "When all I have to do is tell you about all the stuff, it’s more manageable; it's less real; the whole thing is a little more under my control."...

Rescuers: Working Collaboratively with Other Professionals

Kristin Bergfeld, BERGFELD’s Estate Clearance Service

It is a basic instinct. We all are rescuers of people we care about. It is the best of the primitive mind at work. And, it takes talent. The brilliance of NAPO and NSGCD is in taking this fundamental human response and matching it with sophisticated skills of all kinds, support tools and professional structure.

For this article, I focus on the work we do for clients whose advanced clutter, chronic disorganization, or 'Levels III, IV, or V' hoarding on the NSGCD Clutter Hoarding Scale, put them, their families, neighbors, and even their homes at risk. But, the principles are the same for clients needing less radical rescuing.

We are all connected to each other and to our environments, like it or not. The way our clients live affects their well being, as well as that of their families, neighbors, and homes. Our efforts to help them work best when we respond to and collaborate with these related factors. Our primary responsibility is to our clients. Simultaneously, we are obligated to work with other factors and people affected by or participating in our clients’ lives.

Employing Motivational Techniques with Psychotherapists and Professional Organizers: A Collaborative Approach with Compulsive Hoarders

Stephen Geller Katz, LCSW-R; Sondra Schiff, RN, A to ZEN Organizing, Inc.

"There came a time when the risk to remain tight in the bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom." — Anais Nin

This article, along with the experiences and insights it includes, is a direct result of the conferences and educational programs of the NSGCD and the ground-breaking presentations on Collaborative Therapy by Roland Rotz, PhD, Heidi Schulz, CPO-CD, and the Introduction of Motivational Interviewing by David F. Tolin, PhD.

The familiar scenario repeats itself: The phone rings. A desperate-weary voice on the other side introduces herself as the sister of a hoarder. She says she doesn’t know if you can help her. She begins to tell a frequently heard tale. The names are different but the details are often strikingly similar: Her 58-year-old sister lives in an apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan and the coop board has issued two warnings for the sister to clean her apartment out due to fire code and health violations. She now faces the stark reality of eviction...

Linda Goldfarb, CPO®, Organize Anything, Ltd.

Very early in my organizing career, I received a call from someone inquiring about my services. Being brand new to the field, I was thrilled and couldn’t wait to meet the prospective client. Having limited experience organizing other people, I did not realize that what I was walking into was a hoarding situation. Though clean and seemingly well-cared for, the house contained mountains of clothing, paper, magazines and catalogs, books, office supplies, china, records — and the list goes on. There were items that were of no apparent use; narrowed pathways and semi-blocked doorways. There were rooms that could no longer be used for their intended purpose. Today, we know that these are some of the characteristics of compulsive hoarding.

The red flags were there; I was just too inexperienced and untrained to recognize them. I truly did not realize the challenges I would be up against...

Difficulties in Working with Clients Who Refuse Collaborative Relationships

Alice Price CPO-CD®, Organize Long Island, Inc.

Sooner or later, it happens to all of us. We encounter a client for whom the clutter is a symptom of a deeper issue. Sometimes, we are lucky and the client voluntarily tells us they are in therapy. Sometimes we ask. Some professional organizers refuse to work with such clients unless they are in therapy. But being in therapy is no guarantee that the therapeutic work that the client is doing will have any effect on the organizing project. Once it is established that the client is in therapy, the professional organizer might give a short explanation of collaborative therapy and ask the client if they would agree to such an arrangement. If the client declines, many professional organizers will continue as long as the client is in therapy. However, it is possible that the client is working with a therapist on a specific issue that the client feels has no connection with the disorganization.

Here we have "the line." We are not therapists, but we come to know our clients and some details of their history. With this knowledge, we start analyzing their decision-making processes and the emotions behind them. And although our analysis may be correct, we cannot vocalize it...

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.

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...

Back to Top

NAPO-NY MEMBER NEWS

NAPO-NY New Members

• Karen Guccione
• Gary Martin

Applause, Please

Dawn Falcone, owner of Dawn Falcone Lifestyles, was featured in the May issue of Real Simple magazine, in an article and photo spread on interior redesign.

Karen Koedding, of A Little Elf, LLC, is Australia’s first Certified Professional Organizer® and is chairing the Australasian Association of Professional Organisers (AAPO) Conference in the fall.

Barbara Landsman, has generously donated a book to the library. The title is Organize Yourself by Ronni Eisenberg. This easy reference guide includes "proven techniques for streamlining your daily life." It is a useful resource for the beginning organizer as well as the practiced one who is looking for fresh ideas.

Sharon Lowenheim, of Organizing Goddess, LLC, was featured in the June 9 issue of Crain's New York Business in an article about summer vacation plans of entrepreneurs.

Back to Top

Troy Kirschner, ACE Space Krafters

Hello my name is Troy Kirschner, owner of ACE Space Krafters. Here is a brief history of my life and company.

For me, organizing was a necessity having grown up in a small two-bedroom apartment in Williamsburg with my parents and sister and brother. I shared bedroom space with my siblings and slept in the living room. I began organizing at a young age. Storage was a luxury; if I wanted to keep things, I had to be selective. I dealt with clothing that had to fit or be removed from valuable closet space. I was constantly editing my collections of boxes, bottles, jars, rocks, and Matchbox cars. Organizing was always a way of life for this native New Yorker.

By the time I was 9 we moved to the largest housing development in the world, up in the Bronx. Space improved. Every room was bigger and now I slept in a bedroom with my brother. "Wow! Half a room to contain my stuff." I was doing pretty well. By now my collections included coins, comics, assorted cards, games, and sporting equipment (including a bicycle we kept in a separate storage room in the building). I used every square inch of that room for my things, again editing out stuff when new acquisitions came in. I was always buying, selling, or trading to further my collections or starting new ones. At some point I started doing flea markets and church bazaars to lighten my load — Boy were they a lot of work packing and unpacking — but I had fun selling and letting go of unwanted stuff. Family members would also add items to the table for sale. A lot of good skills were learned along the way.

I always had a knack for organizing; it's part of my being. I practiced the principle, "if I didn’t need it or it served no purpose, let it go." The business started very small back in 1994 with a couple of clients who needed help in organizing their files. Around the same time I became aware of NAPO meetings in White Plains. I joined on September 10, 2001 as I inched closer to retirement from NYPD. Knowing that a career change was coming after serving the city for twenty years, ACE Space Krafters became my full time occupation in June of 2005. I love the challenges of running my own business and the freedom I have to swim, dance, and practice Yoga. I am a generalist but love to do elfa® closets. The reaction from satisfied clients is very gratifying and propels me through the low points.

Back to Top

Volunteer Opportunities

NAPO-NY is exclusively volunteer driven. We encourage each member to contribute in some way each year to help the Chapter run smoothly and provide value to all members. Choose a position that suits you by going to the Members Only/Volunteer link on our website. This page displays all open volunteer positions under three categories — Community Service, NAPO-NY Positions, and Project Positions — and provides brief descriptions and contact information.

For a general overview of the organizational structure of NAPO-NY, please see the NAPO-NY Org Chart. Committee Chairs, Committees and Jobs in bold all indicate unfilled positions.

Many volunteer opportunities do not require that you be based in New York City or attend meetings, and most importantly, much of the volunteer work can often be done in the comfort of your home.

We can’t make this Chapter the best it can be without your help. Please volunteer now.

Back to Top

REVIEWS & RESOURCES

Product Spotlight: Product Spotlight: Click Clack® Airtight Storers

Diane Albright, All Bright Ideas

If you are ever in search of a versatile container that can maximize your space, consider using the rectangular storers from Click Clack® . These containers work well in the kitchen, craft or sewing room, bathroom, and child’s room. Not only are these containers airtight, they’re also clear, allowing you to easily view what’s inside. Their rectangular shape makes them superior to round containers; rectangular containers are easier to stack and you won’t waste precious space. Available in eight different sizes, these containers can be used in any room of the house — all you need is your imagination.

Click Clack® containers work marvelously in the kitchen to keep items fresh. They maximize your space and allow you to see when something is running low. With their various sizes, consider using the containers for dried and powdered foods. An entire 12-ounce bag of chocolate chips fit in the smallest size of the Click Clack® containers! Be careful though, it also makes the chocolate chips VERY accessible. Yum, yum!

Another phenomenal use of the Click Clack® containers is for cereal storage, in particular, if you have children, big or small. You'll no longer have to worry if the inner bag is folded down and if the cardboard box is closed properly. It only takes one hand to open a Click Clack® container — any child can open or close it. Just a quick glance will allow you to see when your cereal is running low. Since these containers are made of a hard plastic, the likelihood of food picking up a "container taste" is almost unheard of.

Don't limit these containers to food storage. They're fabulous for storing cookies cutters, tubes of icing, or bottles of food coloring. Now you can "stack and see" what you have. They're also wonderful for craft and sewing notions and art supplies. In the bathroom, store cotton balls, Q-tips, Band-aids, hair accessories, and more. Consider the largest size to store dog food.

Click Clack® containers are dishwasher safe. You can view them online at the Container Store® and Bed Bath and Beyond®.

Back to Top

Blog Spotlight

Elizabeth Quincy, Matter of Heart Organizing

The organizing community of the blogosphere is vast and worth checking out as a professional resource, if you haven’t already. You can find an organizing blog for every niche, from corporate organizing to working with new moms. Most bloggers link to a list of their own favorite blogs, which can keep you clicking for a long time.

Typically, blogs contain entries of 100-300 words that often include descriptive pictures and provide an index by both category and entry date. Blogging styles are personal and varied. Finding a blogger you like will depend on what information you’re looking for and how you relate to the blogger’s voice. Some bloggers are candid and muse as one would in a diary. Others emphasize getting across information as concisely as possible. Some bloggers simplify entries; others clutter them with tangential information or excessive links. Too much clicking can lead you far off topic.

The following are three blogs I find to provide excellent content and inspiration. Each deals with a different organizing specialty.

Productivity Café: Susan Sabo

Entries focus on productivity in an office or corporate setting. The blog provides a wealth of electronic organizing strategies for Outlook and desktop filing. Meeting strategies and personal time management are featured.

Clutter Diet® Blog : Lorie Marrero, CPO®

This blog offers a ton of organizing products for home organization, many of which are available from The Clutter Diet® website. Ample entries on organizing kids are indexed.

Neat & Simple Living Blog: NAPO-NY’s Ariane Benefit.

Ariane strikes a balance between being candid (citing many of her own organizing challenges and solutions) and knowledgeable strategies for the CD/ADD client and creative organizing types.

Back to Top

NAPO-NY NEWSLETTER STAFF

A.J. Miller, MILLER ORGANIZING, Editor
Elizabeth Quincy, Matter of Heart Organizing, Assistant Editor
Diane Albright, All Bright Ideas, Product Reviewer
Emily Herrick, Herrick Home Organizing, Proofreader
Brenda Kamen, Find Everything, Proofreader
Mary Mobley, Ad Manager
Stephanie Shalofsky, Ad Manager

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE NEWSLETTER

The NAPO-NY Newsletter is a by-member, for-member publication and a unique opportunity to share with your fellow Chapter members. If there's a book you've read, a product you've tried or a seminar you've attended, please consider writing a brief review. If you've reached a professional milestone, had a client breakthrough or discovered a new passion in your organizing work, these are stories we'd love to publish. We welcome your contributions at any time. Please send your submissions to assteditor@napo-ny.net.

Back to Top

NAPO-NY NEWS IS SUPPORTED BY OUR ADVERTISERS

PHILIP WEISS AUCTIONS

We can provide you and your client with the option of auctioning, selling outright, or a combination solution for high value and other collectibles, including books, autographs, stamps, coins, poster and fine art, photos, prints, antique furniture and more. We are licensed and bonded.

Please allow us to meet with you and your client. They will thank you and and so will we!

Contact Tom Wirth at 516-594-0731 and mention that you are a member of NAPO.

JANE ST. LIFER
Accredited Senior Appraiser, American Society of Appraisers

Astech Closets Systems, Inc.

Astech Closet Systems offers custom organization systems for the closet, garage, home office & pantry to home owners, and contractors.

Bill Allen
William C. Allen Insurance Agency, Inc.

Specializing in low-cost Home-based Business Insurance
for Professional Organizers

Filling the gaps, so you don't fall through...

NAPO-NY makes no endorsement of any products or services advertised.

Your Ad Here

For more information on advertising in the NAPO-NY News, please contact Mary Mobley or Stephanie Shalofsky, Advertising Managers, for advertising rates.

Reprinting or Otherwise Distributing Content

If you would like to reprint and distribute the articles or other content appearing in this Newsletter in your publication - or distribute it to a wider audience - please be sure to credit NAPO-NY at http://www.napo-ny.net as well as the person who wrote the article.

If you are planning to include this content on a web page or in an email, please be sure to credit us by including a clickable link to the NAPO-NY website (http://www.napo-ny.net). Thank you.

Back to Top