No Contest Items: A potential approach to gaining trust in the early phases of hoarding support services...

Head Off a Power Struggle Before It Starts 

Throughout our years of service, we have approached client supports in many ways and realized early on that there are going to be many items that posed as potentials for power struggles at every turn.  We found that starting the therapeutic process with an understanding of what would be "no contest items" and asking the client to identify what items would be non-debatable and saved often served to establish the beginnings of trust building with our clients.  These items, often the favourites of all favourites amoung the clients possessions, were identified by the client and we committed to no discussion and no counsellor initiated encouragement to remove these items or consider them for donation or recycling.  As these items were located throughout the cleaning process, we ensured we identified that we have located one of the no contest items and proceeded to group these items together in an area that was visible to the client. This will require a bin or box to start this process off if you choose to implement this strategy in your own work. If you have any experience working with severe cases of hoarding, you can easily see where this approach may not be ideal as potentially every... single... little... thing may be equally important and all of the items in this person's residence may be 'favourites of all favourites'.  This is the reason we set up this agreement at the very beginning of the therapeutic process and usually in the intake meeting. In particular, compulsive hoarders who see themselves as professional collectors or as 'business people' would not likely benefit from this strategy. One of the many benefits of completing our work with clients directly in their home is that we will see from the onset whether or not this strategy can be employed.  If we enter a residence and it resembles the picture below, we avoid the no contest items strategy as our experience has taught us this approach is not effective with the clients who consider themselves professional collectors or business people. Been there, done that, and failed miserably.

Now, this is not to say that all severe cases of compulsive hoarding would not benefit from this approach; however, as with all approaches and strategies, each client's responses will vary depending on their motivation for change, ambivalence and recognition of their hoarding issues. Some clients have responded favourably and chose one item such as scrapbooking supplies, fishing tackle or antique tools. Others have requested three items which may have included Hot Wheels cars, anything related to their years of service in Girl Scouts or anything that was for gardening. Keep in mind that we spent a significant amount of time cutting fishing line and untangling tackle that wound up filling 7 tackle boxes for nearly 50 fishing rods. Strangely, we only came across 7 reels for 50 fishing rods but we weren't complaining about that by the end when the client donated 95% of his fishing tackle to a youth recreation centre. 

The purpose behind establishing no contest items is to support the client's sense of control, demonstrate our own flexibility in the process, and establish an understanding between client and counsellor about what items are most important to the client. An element of keeping the process client-centred requires sensitivity to the client's level of distress that is caused by permitting an unknown person into their homes, touching their things, seeing their lives on display and concerns the counsellor will form negative judgments about the client. Again, ensuring the client's have a strong understanding of the limits within the therapeutic process, the control the client's have as the owners of the process and it's outcomes, and the understanding that the process is flexible can go a very long way to helping ease the client's immediate concerns about engaging in the therapeutic process with a counsellor. The counsellor's follow through with the agreement to no contest items is what will build and enhance the trust and rapport between client and counsellor.

As with all therapeutic strategies and approaches, we can never quite fully anticipate the client's response or the overall outcome but we must be prepared to be flexible and creative at all times. As with many of the experiences we will share, lessons we have learned, and the suggestions we will be making over the course of our articles, it will always be through the experience and competency of the counsellor, as well as the relationship between and client and the counsellor, that will determine the effectiveness of any form of intervention. If you have any questions or require any clarification on no contest items, please let us know!  We are glad to provide further information and offer support wherever we can.  

Our next article will focus on the value difference between client and counsellor and how these can either benefit or impede the therapeutic process but more so, how to avoid the value difference pitfalls that are common to any therapeutic process. We will post this article for discussion on Friday August 26, 2016 and look forward to sharing our learning and resources with you!  Until then, take care and keep digging.