Our peer-led Hoarding Behavior Program provides more than support—it’s a space for learning, raising awareness, and connecting with others who understand your experiences. Through support groups, 1-on-1 counseling, services for family and friends, trainings and practical tools, we help you navigate challenges, reduce the risk of eviction, and feel more secure at home. Together, we foster a compassionate community where individuals can share, grow, and find lasting solutions.
Our Services
You Are Not Alone.
At MHASF, we’ve been providing hoarding behavior support and services since 1997. We help individuals find community and take steps toward change at their own pace.
85% of our hoarding behavior participants have found a decrease fear of the risk of eviction from our program.
For more information,
Email: peersupportservices@mentalhealthsf.org
Peer Support Services Phone: 510-306-4527
What Can MHASF Do?
Listen to their situation without judgment.
Follow their lead, process, & goals.
Suggest tips, strategies, & resources.
Make a limited amount of home visits to establish a relationship and offer support.
Accompany them to hearings, inspections, & storage spaces.
Help them connect to support groups & a larger peer community.
What Can’t MHASF Do?
Judge or criticize them.
Touch, move, or remove their possessions.
Force or set goals for them.
Help them if they do not want to be helped.
Break confidentiality.
Disregard their feelings.
Shame or guilt them about the amount of belongings they have.
Work weekends or after 5 PM on weekdays.
What is Hoarding?
Hoarding disorder is a mental health condition resulting in the accumulation of an excessive number of objects in the home. Blaming someone for having too many possessions is like blaming a person with schizophrenia for hearing voices—the behavior is a symptom of the illness, not a choice.
Only a small percentage of hoarding behavior is visible, with most of its causes lying beneath the surface, like an iceberg.
According to the Diagnostic Statistical Manual V (DSM-5), the criteria for Hoarding Disorder (HD), summarized, is:
The person has difficulty discarding objects regardless of their actual value and is distressed unless they can keep these items.
Consequently, areas of the home become cluttered and can’t be used for their intended purpose.
The hoarding causes clinically significant impairment, including maintaining a safe environment.
This behavior can’t be better explained by other medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s or psychiatric conditions such as Depression, Attention Deficit Disorder, Anxiety Disorder, or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, etc.
Specifier: 80-92% of people with HD engage in compulsive acquiring
“Do I Have a Problem With Hoarding?”
Characteristics
People with hoarding behavior take pride in their collections.
They enjoy curating & displaying their objects.
They have out-of-control piles of items.
One may hoard animals.
When shame & guilt accompany these actions, one’s items are typically hidden away.
These items give one a sense of stability, safety, & status.
Questions I Should Consider
Do I find it challenging to discard or let go of things?
Do I have difficulty passing up a bargain, freebie, yard sale or reading material?
Are my rooms unusable for their intended purpose?
Am I embarrassed for others to see the amount of stuff you own?
Am I in financial or housing trouble because of my possessions?
Could my items pose a health, safety, or fire hazard?
Referrals on Hoarding Behavior
PHYSICAL DECLUTTERING
Services that can aid in the disposal and organization of physical objects.
SUPPORT GROUPS
Gatherings of people who self-identify as having hoarding behaviors to talk, share experiences, and get support from like-minded individuals.
TREATMENT GROUPS
Different groups whose facilitators teach and apply particular treatment strategies to help groups of individuals with hoarding behavior understand and manage their unique challenges. Can be clinically-based and/or peer-based.
COUNSELING
Services where a trained person confidentially listens to an individual to help them work out their own problems.
LEGAL ASSISTANCE
Organizations who offer legal advice and aid for numerous issues, including legal action taken due to hoarding behaviors.
Resources
ASSESSMENTS
Instruments to evaluate where someone with hoarding behavior is in their recovery journey both quantitatively and qualitatively.
BEST PRACTICES / TOOLS
Proven methods and techniques that have helped people with hoarding behavior reduce acquiring, simplify sorting, and promote discarding.
LEGAL
Knowledge about legal charges, processes, accommodations, and consequences possible in the presence of hoarding behavior.
BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
Books that provide insight into the symptoms, treatment approaches, co-occurring conditions, and causes for hoarding behavior.
