| Deborah Bailey RN Clinician Western Aged Care Assessment Service, Western Suburbs of Melbourne Deborah Bailey is currently working with the Western Aged Care Assessment Service in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne as a clinician. She has a particular interest in Squalor and Self Neglect in community living older people and has been working with this group for 8 years. Deborah is qualified as a Registered Nurse Div1, Master of Nursing (Gerontics and Continence) Grad Dip Palliative Care and Grad Dip Business Management. | |
| Donna Bowe Community Development Coordinator for the South Region Brisbane City Council Donna Bowe has been progressing supportive responses to hoarding and squalor within Brisbane City Council since 2011. Donna is a founding member of the Brisbane Hoarding and Squalor Working Group, and through a Churchill Fellowship, studied best practice, collaborative approaches to address these issues. | |
| Chief Superintendent Greg Buckley Assistant Director Fire Safety, Community Safety Directorate Fire & Rescue NSW During his 30 year career, Fire & Rescue NSW (FRNSW) Chief Superintendent Greg Buckley has responded to hundreds of fires and rescues, served in a wide range of senior management and specialist positions, and been responsible for numerous initiatives that have enhanced public safety both in NSW and nationally. Chief Superintendent Buckley is one of FRNSW’s pre-eminent experts in the area of building fire safety and research, and he has been heavily involved in the development of policies and legislation that changed fire safety standards in NSW. | |
| Steve Coleman Chief Executive Officer RSPCA NSW Mr Steven Coleman, Graduate Diploma of Investigations Management, MBA, is the Chief Executive Officer of RSPCA NSW and the Society Secretary. He joined RSPCA NSW as an Inspector in 1991, and contributes to animal welfare in many ways. He has held many positions within RSPCA NSW including, Inspector, Deputy Chief Inspector, Chief Inspector, Deputy CEO and now CEO. He continues to serve on many committees including the Animal Welfare Advisory Council, Companion Animals Taskforce, Responsible Pet Ownership Reference Group, Taronga Zoo welfare committee, reporting direct to NSW Government Ministers. He is also the proud owner of a cross shitzu called “Misty” and a guinea pig called “Jasper”. | |
| Dr Leanne Craze Mental health and social policy consultant, Director Craze Lateral Solutions and Coordinator, Hoarding and Squalor Recovery in Parramatta Project (Project Uncover) and MHBiz Project (Hume Community Housing Association) Leanne Craze with a PhD (UNSW, Faculty Professional Studies), Graduate Diploma Science (Climate Change and Resource Management (UWS) and Bachelor Social Work Hons 1 (UNSW) has held academic positions in social work at the University of Western Sydney and the Australian Catholic University. Leanne has also held a number of senior positions including: Principal Researcher, Victorian Parliament Social Development Committee Inquiry into Mental Disturbance and Community Safety; Secretary, Joint Parliamentary Committee on the National Crime Authority, Australian Senate; and Senior Criminologist, Australian Institute of Criminology. Leanne has provided independent consultancy services since 1990 when she was the Secretary to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission’s Inquiry concerning the Human Rights of people with Mental Illness. The office of her company, Craze Lateral Solutions, is currently located in Glen Alpine in Sydney’s South West. | |
| Dr Rosemary Elliott President Sentient, The Veterinary Institute for Animal Ethics Rosemary studied veterinary science at the University of Sydney after establishing her career as a clinical psychologist. After graduating, her honours research led to the first published study of greyhound adoption. Her experiences during veterinary training fostered an ambition to focus directly on animal welfare and ethics. Rosemary co-founded Sentient, The Veterinary Institute for Animal Ethics, in 2011 and is their current President. Sentient is an independent association of veterinarians solely dedicated to using animal welfare science to bring the recognition of animals as sentient beings to the national agenda, and to ensure that their needs are appropriately and ethically addressed by governments, industry and the public. Rosemary’s special interests include animal sentience, the human-animal bond and production animal welfare. She is now an independent member of the Veterinary Faculty’s Animal Welfare Advisory Committee, and also promotes animal welfare through writing, research and presentations. Rosemary's presentation will outline the results of a pilot study of animal hoarding in NSW. This study describes the characteristics of animal hoarding cases referred to RSPCA NSW, examines factors relevant to the development of hoarding behaviour, compares findings to previous studies, and discusses options for developing a multidisciplinary intervention to assist animal hoarders who present with mental health disorders. | |
| Commissioner John Feneley Mental Health Commission of NSW In his professional life as a lawyer, John Feneley was frustrated to see the same disadvantaged people return repeatedly to the criminal justice system, imprisoned and dislocated from friends and family while mental health problems remained unaddressed. In his private life, Mr Feneley witnessed a family member struggle for many years to find adequate support for a long-term mental illness, in a health system geared mainly to respond to crisis. Both experiences convinced him that the NSW mental health system needed fundamental overhaul. “It was a unique opportunity to help to bring about change,” Mr Feneley says of his appointment in July 2012 as the first NSW Mental Health Commissioner, charged with reviewing and improving the state’s response to mental illness. Mr Feneley credits the mental health consumer movement, and its insistence on recovery, choice and autonomy, with setting the scene for system reforms - focused on better support in the community – that have stalled in the past. Governments, too, are primed for change, he says, with the advent of the National Disability Insurance Scheme and other initiatives that emphasise care and support delivered to individuals, rather than to hospitals or services. But change – even when the need for it is well recognized – is challenging to achieve. “The hardest thing is bringing people with you,” Mr Feneley says. “You don’t want to insult people who are working very hard every day and doing the best with what they’ve got. The conversation about reform can, unintentionally, seem to trivialise the effort that people in the front line are already making.” As a young child, Mr Feneley recalls visiting his psychiatrist grandfather, Dr Charles Egan, at the Gladesville Hospital campus where the Commission’s offices now stand. His mother grew up in a house on the site, when it was one of NSW’s largest institutions for involuntary psychiatric patients, who continued to be detained there as recently as the early 1990s. His own family’s three-generation connection with mental health care reminds Mr Feneley that, “Government is a behemoth. It’s slow to change and if you get it wrong you’ll be on that path for a long time.” But Mr Feneley, who describes himself as motivated by, “fairness, and a basic respect for people’s rights,” believes that in 2015 the path towards better mental health is much clearer. “A lot of the heavy lifting has already been done,” he says. “Our challenge now is to take it and run with it.” John Feneley’s previous roles include Deputy President of the Mental Health Review Tribunal, Assistant Director General at the NSW Attorney Generals Department, and Deputy Commissioner of the Independent Commission Against Corruption. He has also served on the Board of the Schizophrenia Fellowship, and government boards and committees such as the Youth Justice Advisory Committee, the Child Death Review Team and the Legal Profession Admission Board. He was a member of the Expert Reference Group which advised on the review of the NSW Mental Health Act 2007, resulting in the Mental Health Amendment (Statutory Review) Bill 2014. | |
| Aisha Ferris Case Manager Community Care (Northern Beaches) Ltd (CCNB) Aisha Ferris has worked at CCNB Ltd since 2013 as a Case Manager. She has worked in the community services sector for 18 years in a variety of roles including with Family and Community Services. Her qualifications include a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Community Services (Welfare) (Distinction). Prior to working on the Home Possessions and Environment Program Aisha’s experience has included working in the field of complex mental health, with children and families, with clients who are homeless, indigenous communities and people living with a disability. She is passionate about advocacy for marginalized groups within our society and supporting people to lead their best lives, whatever that may be. | |
| Dr Randy O. Frost Harold and Elsa Siipola Israel Professor of Psychology Smith College If you simply cannot attend the pre-Conference Workshop being run by Dr Randy O Frost on Tuesday 28th June, we are delighted to announce that Dr Randy O Frost will also be one of our Keynote Speakers at the two day Conference. Dr Randy O Frost is the Harold and Elsa Siipola Israel Professor of Psychology at Smith College. He is an internationally recognized expert on obsessive-compulsive disorder and hoarding disorder and has published more than 160 scientific articles, books, and book chapters on these topics. Dr Frost serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of the International OCD Foundation, and co-edits the Hoarding Center on the IOCDF website. He has co-authored several books on hoarding includingBuried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding (Oxford University Press).Buried in Treasures received a Self-Help Book of Merit Award from the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapy in 2010. He has also published the Compulsive Hoarding and Acquiring Therapist Guide and client Workbook, through Oxford University Press. Second editions of all three of these books were published in 2014. His best-selling book, Stuff: Compulsive hoarding and the meaning of things (with Gail Steketee), was published by Houghton, Mifflin, Harcourt in 2010 and was a finalist for the 2010 Books for a Better Life Award. Stuff was also a New York Times Bestseller and named a Must Read Book for 2011 by Massachusetts Book Awards. Stuff has been translated into 4 languages. His newest work, The Oxford Handbook of Hoarding and Acquiring was published in 2014. His work has been funded by the International Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Foundation and the National Institute of Mental Health. Dr. Frost is one of the original members of the Hoarding of Animals Research Consortium and has served as consultant to numerous communities in setting up task forces to deal with the problem of hoarding. In 2012 he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in innovation, treatment, and research in the field of hoarding and cluttering by the Mental Health Association of San Francisco. In 2013 he received a Career Achievement Award from the International OCD Foundation for his work on hoarding. He has given hundreds of talks on hoarding and numerous workshops for clinicians, public health, housing, and elder service professionals, as well as people suffering from hoarding problems. | |
| Debbie Graham Hoarding and Squalor Project Officer Macarthur Disability Services Debbie has worked for over 25 years in the community sector and has qualifications in childcare, community services, an Associate Degree in Counselling and a Cert IV Training and Assessment. She has worked in a variety of different settings including community development, family support, employment services and Partners In Recovery (PIR) She also has a lived experience of hoarding and is passionate in developing a model of care and addressing systemic gaps for people experiencing H&S issues. | |
| A/Prof Jessica Grisham Associate Professor School of Psychology, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Jessica Grisham is an academic clinical psychologist and Associate Professor in the School of Psychology at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. She received her PhD from Boston University in 2005 and moved to Sydney soon after. She is an international authority on hoarding disorder and has extensive clinical experience assessing and treating hoarding clients. She and her students also conduct research on the phenomenology and treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Jessica has had research grants on OCD and anger and has been awarded a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council to study the cognitive biases that fuel obsessions. | |
| Colette Harris Policy and Development Officer City of Stonnington Colette works at the City of Stonnington as the Policy Development Officer in the Department of Aged, Diversity, Health and Animal Management. Colette comes from a research background and has experience in not only Local Government, but within the Arts and Education sectors. Her roles across these fields have primarily focused on supporting diverse communities through consultation and locally run initiatives. | |
| Glenn Haskins Environmental Health Officer City of Parramatta Glenn Haskins is an Environmental Health Officer at the City of Parramatta. He has a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Management and Biology and has worked in the area of Environment and Public Health Protection for the past 4 years. As well as the regular duties of an Environmental Health Officer he has gained particular experience in dealing with waste matters including assessing development applications and responding to concerns regarding hoarding/squalor. | |
| Belinda Henry Coordinator, Complex Clients, East Division Victorian Department of Health and Human Services Belinda has worked with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services since 2007. Beginning with the portfolios of homelessness and family violence Belinda then expanded her involvement to programs in the department, other government departments and community service organisations. Her principal focus has been to solve service delivery issues and develop creative service responses to clients with complex needs. Belinda has delivered information and education about hoarding to housing, disability, child protection, youth justice, health and Local Government services. She has project managed a Buried in Treasures Project for the Inner and Outer Eastern Melbourne Areas. Belinda has a continuing commitment to building the capacity of the service system to respond better to people living with Hoarding Disorder. She believes this is best achieved through the provision of education, training, and the development and implementation of innovative service delivery options. | |
| Douglas Holmes Mental Health Advocate and Company Director St Vincents Mental Health Services Douglas is well-known and respected mental health advocate, consumer consultant and peer worker, based in Sydney and employed part-time by St Vincents Mental Health Services. Douglas, who is also currently providing independent consultancy services, has significant expertise and experience in working as a consumer consultant and peer worker in one of Australia’s busiest acute inpatient mental health services. Douglas has contributed to relevant research, policy development and service development at the local, state and national levels throughout the last 25 years. Douglas contributes a wealth of both personal and professional experience and knowledge to supporting the recovery of others as well as helping communities to be inclusive of diversity including people living with mental distress and disability. Douglas also successfully completed the Company Director's training of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. | |
| Melissa Horton Community Service Manager Floresco Centre, Aftercare Melissa Horton is a passionate Community Service manager, who recently became the Service Manager of the Floresco Centre in Ipswich and is employed by Aftercare. After 6 years of various roles with Centacare Brisbane, Melissa is keen to specialise in Mental Health service responses under the unique and innovative Floresco model. During her time with Centacare, Melissa Specialised in Homelessness issues and responding to Hoarding and squalor in the community. Developing and managing a Specialist cleaning Service based on a Mental Health Support worker model and using the best practice support model frameworks to respond with dignity and respect for clients and their communities. An active leader on the Brisbane Hoarding and squalor Working group for many years, and now also on the newly formed Ipswich Hoarding and Squalor Community Action Group. | |
| Simone Isemann Clinical Services Manager Lifeline to Harbour to Hawkesbury, NSW Simone Isemann is a Clinical Psychologist who has Masters in both Clinical Psychology and Coaching Psychology. Simone is the Face-to- Face Clinical Services Manager at Lifeline Harbour to Hawkesbury. In addition to managing the service, Simone sees individual clients with a range of issues, including Hoarding Disorder and facilitates Lifeline H2H’s Hoarding Treatment Program. Simone has previously worked in private practice and has had various corporate roles in Leadership Development and Training. | |
| Margaret Kime Regional Manager, Central Coast, Hunter & Mid North Coast Catholic Community Services Managed aged, disability, community, respite, accommodation services Social Planner –Local Government, Mental Health Counselling, Commcare & Teacher adult education and training Advisor Federal Member of Parliament Family law Court Mediation Rehab Practitioner Managed Hunter disability, community and aged services for over 20 years. Including transition to the NDIS pilot in 2013 helping to shape the future of the NDIS. Educator of community sector workers Established an Registered Training Organisation to assist students with disabilities, staff and employees withing the community, aged care and disability industries with flexible customized training options. | |
| Chief Superintendent Chris Lewis Assistant Director Community Safety and Research Fire & Rescue NSW (FRNSW) Chris has been working for Fire Rescue NSW (FRNSW) for over 36 years and was previously the manager of FRNSW Fire Investigation and Research Unit (FIRU) for 12 years. He is currently the Assistant Director Community Safety and Research, FRNSW. Chris has a Doctorate in Public Policy with Charles Sturt University, a Masters of Applied Science (Fire Engineering) with the University of Western Sydney, a Masters in Business Administration with Deakin University and a Graduate Certificate in E-Learning and Adult Education at UTS. | |
| Sandra Fiona Long Writer and Performance Maker is a writer and performance maker. She works across communities, cultures and abilities, alongside some of Australia's most respected theatre artists to create theatre works which aim to break down judgement and stereotypes. In 2015 she wrote and performed solo ‘Pancake Opus 100’ based onthe experience of single parenting at La Mama Theatre, directed and co-created ‘Destination Home’ about the rental market with Dan Goronzy, and her script about Hoarding ‘Birdcage Thursdays’ was performed by Genevieve Picot and Sophia Constantine in the Big West Festival. Sandra has collaborated with Indonesian company 'mainteater' for 18 years on multilingualtext works, including directing and translating ‘Happy 1000 1000 Bahagia’(Fringe award Innovation of Form, Green Room nominee Innovative New Form) and directing Urat Jagat (Veins of the Universe) in 2015 in Indonesia. Sandra’s script 'Duets for Lovers and Dreamers' received a RossTrust Script Development award, and was performed in 2010 at fortyfivedownstairs to critical acclaim with a cast including Helen Morse and Katherine Tonkin. Her sound and video installation 'advertising feature' (2009) was described as a 'wicked installation' which 'reveals the penetration of brand-marketing' in the Age. In 2016 Sandra is completing a Master of Writing or Performance at the Victorian College of the Arts. | |
| Nicky Marshall Coordinator / Trainer - Hoarding and Squalor Program St George & Sutherland Hoarding and Squalor Resource Unit, Catholic Community Services NSW/ACT Nicky has worked at Catholic Community Services for over a year as a coordinator of specialised hoarding and squalor programs in both Western Sydney, and South Eastern Sydney. In these roles Nicky has provided both case management and hands-on support for clients affected by hoarding and/or living in squalor. Nicky also delivers training courses to service providers on the effective responses to utilise when working with individuals affected by hoarding and/or living in squalor. Nicky is Masters and degree qualified in Psychology and Counselling, with an Honours degree in Psychology and Master of Counselling and Psychotherapy, and draws upon the skills learned when working with her clients. Nicky has experience working in the mental health sector at Black Dog Institute, where she project managed the psychology and youth professional education programs, and in the drug and alcohol sector at Drug ARM providing counselling to clients affected by alcohol and other drugs. Nicky has also worked in health and palliative care settings in the UK where she provided complementary therapy treatments to patients with life-shortening diseases, care home residents, adults with learning disabilities, children with complex health needs and private clients. | |
| Kristy McCreadie Environmental Health Officer Cumberland Council Kristy McCreadie is employed at Cumberland Council as an Environmental Health Officer. Kristy has over 10 years’ experience in local government in a range of environmental health activities including hoarding and squalor. While employed at Penrith Council, Kristy participated in the Penrith Hoarding and Squalor Interagency and participated in a number of forums on this issue. In October 2014, Kristy presented at the Environmental Health Australia (EHA) NSW Annual State Conference on Penrith Council’s experience with hoarding and squalor. Kristy also delivers a 2-day short course through the UTS Centre for Local Government called Environmental Health in Practice which provides an overview of environmental health activities undertaken by local government including hoarding and squalor. | |
| Julie McCrossin Freelance journalist, facilitator, trainer and speaker Julie is renowned across Australia for her warmth, humour, intelligence and commitment to social justice. After 20 years as a broadcaster with ABC Radio, ABC TV and Network 10, she is now a freelance journalist, facilitator, trainer and speaker. From private workshops with small groups of people to huge public events, Julie has built a reputation for bringing people together, getting them communicating and helping them achieve positive outcomes. | |
| Julie McKie Acting Manager South West Housin Anglicare, WA Julie is Acting Manager South West Housing for Anglicare, WA. Julie has held senior positions in the delivery of services to disadvantaged Aboriginal communities, coordinated aged care services and leads the Anglicare WA Supported Tenant Education Program (STEP) in the south west. In 2015 Julie was a recipient of the Alice Kingsnorth Scholarship to work in the UK. The scholarship provided hands on experience working side by side with organisations that use a collaborative approach towards addressing issues of hoarding & squalor. On return from the UK Julie has implemented hoarding awareness within the Anglicare team, developed hoarding protocols for working with hoarders, consults and assists the wider community on hoarding issues and is a passionate advocate for those affected by hoarding. | |
| Vicky Millanta Senior Occupational Therapist Nepean Hospital Vicky is a Senior Occupational Therapist who specialises in the area of Mental Health. She has 12 years’ experience working in the Mental Health field covering both inpatient and community care and works from a recovery paradigm. Vicky has a special interest working with people who have hoarding behaviours and is currently completing a postgraduate master’s research degree on the topic of participating in daily occupations in a cluttered environment. Well documented in the hoarding literature is the occupational difficulties people with hoarding behaviours face day to day, the activities they cannot do. The cognitive-behavioural model of hoarding outlines information processing impairments including memory, attention and executive function adding to the difficulties people experience when functioning in a cluttered environment. However, people can and do participate in activities of daily living. What is missing from the research is an occupation focused understanding of how people live daily life, taking into consideration the ability to complete activities and participate in the roles and routines meaningful to the person. This presentation is the results of a qualitative enquire into the lived experience of people with hoarding behaviours living with severe clutter, and how they manage their day to day occupations. | |
| Dr Christopher Mogan The Anxiety and OCD Clinic, Melbourne Advanced Skills Training Program for Hoarding and related Disorders: Wednesday 29 June 2016. 11.20am – 11.50am Dr Mogan will present an advanced training program in Hoarding Disorder for senior staff that was conducted in 2014 in conjunction with Cohealth, the major provider of mental health and community services in the northern and western regions of Melbourne. The aims included enhancing awareness of HD and equipping experienced staff with assessment and intervention skills that would provide leadership, networking and supervision for other workers in the region. Learning objectives: 1) The diagnostic features of HD and practical assessment tools. 2) Different levels of intervention – harm minimization, support, motivating change 3) Community-based responses including inter-agency, levels of government, and building locally-based resources. Advanced strategies including planning interventions, supervising staff, collaborative consultations and dealing with treatment-interfering-variables. The cognitive-behavioral model of Hoarding Disorder: Evidence from clinical and non-clinical cohorts: Wednesday 29th June 2016. 1. 3.40pm – 4.10pm This paper examining key variables in the cognitive-behavioral model of Hoarding Disorder in clinical and non-clinical cohorts identifies unique predictors of hoarding severity including negative developmental issues, savings cognitions, meta-memory and decision-making factors. Importantly, these findings extend the CBT model to early developmental and attachment factors that have implications for case formulation and treatment mode | |
| Judy Nicholas Mental Health Advocate & Speaker & member of the ARAFMI NSW Peak Advisory Committee Judy, is a nurse by training who generously commits her time to sharing from her personal experience of depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and problematic hoarding and of supporting close family members with mental illness. Judy speaks openly about her experience of hoarding – about what's been the hardest challenges along the road to recovery and what has helped and hasn't helped. Judy is also a member of the ARAFMI NSW Peak Advisory Committee. Biography Judy grew up in a very poor family moving around from place to place. She became a nurse and got married, then was diagnosed with OCD. She had post-natal depression after several miscarriages. Collecting and hoarding became an increasing part of her life, something that gave her pleasure. However her life became dominated by mental illness when her husband and two daughters were diagnosed with OCD, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Judy became a full-time carer and advocacy became her driver to seek government and community awareness to reduce stigma. Judy's presentation is a personal reflection of the impact of having Obsessive Compulsive Disorder with hoarding on a marriage and family. It discusses living a childhood of material and emotional deprivation and how that fed into a later compulsion to acquire objects to fill the vacuum. It talks about hoarding in a touching and heartfelt way. | |
| Dr Melissa Norberg Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director, Centre for Emotional Health Department of Psychology, Macquarie University Dr Melissa Norberg is an internationally recognized expert for her research on the factors and processes that contribute to the aetiology and maintenance of mental health problems and for using this information to develop more effective treatments. In regards to hoarding disorder, she has developed and found evidence for a cognitive-behavioural group intervention that does not involve the use of home visits. As a result of preliminary evidence that treatments that do and do not include home visits may be equally effective for hoarding disorder, Dr Norberg designed a study to experimentally examine whether discarding rates differ as a function of being in a tidy therapist's office or being in a cluttered lounge room. Additionally, this study examines the effect of fear on discarding rates as prior research has shown that individuals who experience more fear have more problems with discarding. At the conference, Dr Norberg will share her findings from this study, as well as discuss the potential mechanisms underlying these results, and how this knowledge might be used to improve current treatment for hoarding disorder. | |
| Tabatha Pashen Resident Liaison Officer for the Brisbane Local Government Area Brisbane City Council Since September 2014, Tabatha has been coordinating Council’s Hoarding and Squalor Reduction Initiative. Tabatha works closely with Council’s Compliance and Regulatory Services teams and a diverse range of external stakeholders to provide a compliance / support partnership to resolve public health risks on properties due to hoarding and squalor. Tabatha has had extensive experience working collaboratively to respond to and resolve the complex issues that vulnerable households experience. | |
| Penny Pavlou Manager Aged, Diversity, Health and Animal Management City of Stonnington Penny Pavlou works at the City of Stonnington as the Manager Aged, Diversity, Health and Animal Management. Penny has over 30 years experience working across the community services sector in the area of Local and State Government as well as Community Health and a range of compliance areas. She is passionate about aged care and the needs of people from CALD communities, as well as supporting community connectedness. | |
| Tania Reid Hoarding Practitioner For the Crowded House In May this year, Tania Reid was introduced by a colleague as “The Bag Lady”. She smiled. It wasn’t her formal job title, but it was concise and apt. Tania, owner of For the Crowded House, the Hoarding Specialist Service is now in her fifth year of providing therapeutic and practical support in cluttered and hoarded homes. In 2014, Tania self- published “An Ordinary House”; Dr Chris Mogan wrote “This is an important book that opens the door of the hoarded household so the voice of the child … can be heard”. In 2015, Tania expanded the experience of the worker, the sufferer and the family member into the theatre realm through collaboration with Sandra Long and La Mama Theatre. And this year, once a month on a Monday afternoon, she can be found huddled in the corner of a South Melbourne café with author and writing mentor Lee Kofman. Tania says, think 'Love's Executioner' by Irvin Yalom, but without the comfort of a plush office. | |
| Lynton Sheehan Housing and Community Services Community Services Directorate, ACT Government Lynton Sheehan has worked in the human services sector for the past 11 years. During this time, Lynton has worked with numerous communities throughout Canberra to create strong and vibrant social networks, supported young people at risk, as well as supporting public housing and private rental tenants at risk of eviction. Following his employment with the ACT Government in 2011, Lynton has used the experience gained through working in the ACT community services sector to contribute to ACT Government policy in homelessness, relationship management and most recently in developing polices that focus on engagement to support tenants affected by hoarding and squalor. Lynton is currently working with Housing and Community Services to implement a range of reforms within Housing ACT Tenancy Operations area and contributes to wider ACT Government strategies aimed at addressing hoarding and squalor in the Canberra community. | |
| Professor John Snowdon Clinical Professor of Psychiatry Sydney Medical School (Sydney University). John Snowdon is an old age psychiatrist based at Concord Hospital but working also with a community old age psychiatry team with its office at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital. He is a Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at Sydney Medical School (Sydney University). His major research interests are in squalor/ hoarding, suicide and depression in old age. He has authored nearly 200 journal articles and book chapters, and co-authored ‘Severe Domestic Squalor’, published 2012 by Cambridge University Press (John Snowdon, Graeme Halliday and Sube Banerjee). He was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2003. | |
| Mercy Splitt Manager – Hoarding and Squalor Consultancy Hoarding and Squalor Resource Unit, Catholic Community Services Mercy has worked in the Community Services sector for the past 15 years across various services funding streams in a variety of roles including frontline, Case Management and Program Management. Mercy possesses strong common sense, strategic and innovative thinking along with a commitment to ethical and a person focused approach in her practice. For the past 5 years Mercy has been an expert in the Hoarding and Squalor Field. Mercy represents Catholic Community Services on various Hoarding and Squalor working groups across Sydney as well as being called for consultation and advice from State and Local Government, community service groups, NGO’s and Social Housing Providers. Mercy has been instrumental in engaging partnerships across metro and regional areas in the area of Hoarding and Squalor ensuring that the issue is recognised; the understanding of the needs of clients is increased and practices are developed to actively meet these needs. | |
| Carly Stevens Case Manager Community Care (Northern Beaches) Ltd (CCNB) Carly earned her Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Occupational Therapy from the University of Southampton in 2002. She also has a diploma of Community Services (Case Management) which she received in 2008. Carly is currently working with CCNB Ltd, a community care service in Northern Sydney, providing complex Case Management support for people living with hoarding disorder and experiencing domestic squalor. Carly has over 14 years experience working within hospital and community settings in both the UK and Australia. During her work as a Case Manager at CCNB, Carly has witnessed the significant rise in referrals where squalor and compulsive hoarding are a prevailing issue. In 2012 she initiated a hoarding and squalor working party identifying best practice models and developing relationships with external stakeholders. Carly and the working party were successful in advocating to government for specialist Case Management support for this client group. Carly is passionate about promoting choice and independence for her clients and supporting them to achieve increased function and well being. | |
| Jo Walton Senior Coordinator Catholic Community Services Joanne has managed a Women’s Centre and Children’s Centre providing health counselling, accommodation and support including a childcare and pre-school Centre. Jo has been a Director of Nursing in Aged Care Centre’s, she has worked for FACs (DOCs) for over 10 years providing case management and support to vunerable families and has also worked in Case Management with pre and post released prisoners and worked for Cancer Institute NSW as Case Manager developing a website for cancer patients. She is actively involved in foster care of indigenous young people and a registered nurse with over 20 years experience with post graduate qualifications in Psychology. | |
| Dr Sheila Woody Psychologist and Professor of Psychology University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada Dr Sheila Woody heads the Centre for Collaborative Research on Hoarding, which is a multidisciplinary group that aims to better understand cognitive, social, emotional, and community aspects of hoarding behaviour. She has lectured internationally on the topic of anxiety-based disorders and evidence-based interventions for more than 20 years. Her research on hoarding is funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Dr Sheila Woody’s research team collaborates with several community agencies in Canada and the USA to study community-based interventions. In her Conference session titled "Community-based interventions for hoarding in three North American cities" she will describe the approaches to case management taken by diverse types of agencies in the Canadian cities of Vancouver and Hamilton and the American city of Boston. Comparing across agencies, she will provide a glimpse into the profile of clients and the conditions of their homes at the beginning of the agencies’ involvement. | |
