The 10th National Hoarding Awareness Week 2024 took place from 13 -17 May and Jigsaw’s teams helped to raise awareness, bust myths and reduce stigma associated with hoarding disorder.
On Monday 13 May Jayne Mee, Jigsaw’s Hoarding Specialist, and Rebecca Rolfe, Jigsaw’s Tenancy Sustainment worker, hosted an awareness stall in Ashton Market in partnership with Tameside Adult Safeguarding Board, Tameside Adult Services, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and Ashton Pioneer Homes.
They were able to speak to many people about Hoarding Disorder and provided advice and how to get support to those who are affected.
Members of the team and those from the Tameside Hoarding Helping Hoarders peer support group travelled to Liverpool to attend the Northwest Regional Hoarding Conference ‘Unhinged and Unleashed’.
Here they got to share best practise with colleagues, and hear from people with lived experience to help shape and improve Jigsaw’s services. Jayne and peer group member Jules also took part in a delegate Q&A session.
To mark the 10th annual hoarding awareness week, the peer group has set itself a ‘10 in 10’ challenge where members pledge to spend at least 10 minutes over the next 10 days focusing on a priority area. People affected by hoarding disorder can find it very overwhelming to know where to start, so breaking it down in to smaller manageable time frames can be helpful and lead to positive outcomes.
Jayne said: “This year marks the 10th National Hoarding Awareness Week, a campaign we strongly support. Over the last decade our understanding of hoarding and its complexities has grown.
“There’s a lot more compassion and understanding for people exhibiting hoarding behaviour in 2024 but because of the complexities of the disorder we need to remember there are no quick fixes. Hoards aren’t built in a day, so they won’t be resolved in one either. We want to empower our residents to seek the outcomes they want, without having solutions imposed upon them. This is the key to sustaining a long-term behaviour change.
“Our main aim for the future is to continue to develop partnerships and work together as a team to support Jigsaw residents who are affected by hoarding.”
