Hoarding Disorders UK (East) CIC is a not-for-profit Community Interest Company, affiliated with and aligned to the ethos and core objectives of Hoarding Disorders UK CIC. We provide expert advice, training and consultancy- via phone and online consultations, listening spaces, workshops and peer support groups - for people affected by the full range of hoarding behaviours, from chronic disorganisation to extreme clutter, as well as for the families, friends and professionals connected to them. During the financial year, our activities continued to focus on advice, training, partnership work and peer support across the Eastern Region, and specifically Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire.

Partnerships and Research

We worked closely with Anglia Ruskin University as part of the Hoarding and Possessions Collective, contributing to a research project exploring children's experiences of growing up in full and hoarded homes - work that is helping to build the evidence base for trauma-informed, child-centred practice in this area. We also provided ongoing input to the UK Hoarding Steering Group, helping to shape national thinking on hoarding support. Locally, we developed a partnership with MindSpace Stamford, where we host a monthly face-to-face hoarding peer support group, attendance has grown steadily over the year, and the group now supports individuals with a wide range of needs and personal circumstances.

We have supported local partners such as the Evergreen Care Trust, to provide decluttering advice and guidance to the local community, and secured grant funding from the Lincolnshire Integrated Care Board (ICB) to deliver and evaluate a group-based hoarding support programme (Buried In Treasures). This included capturing service-user stories through a "living library" approach. We led on a pro bono project application with Costello Medical, supported by Anglia Ruskin University colleagues, aimed at developing a robust framework for capturing incidence rates of hoarding difficulties, as well as cost analysis. This was successful and is now progressing at speed. We have also delivered pro bono guest lectures at the University of Lincoln.

Advice and Guidance

Throughout the year we provided advice and guidance to professionals across Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire on individual cases, best practice, and how to secure trauma-informed support for people experiencing hoarding difficulties. We worked directly with Cambridgeshire Fire Rescue on local case input and joint home visits, and with Lincolnshire Fire Rescue, who have contributed to our monthly face-to-face support group. We provided support to housing associations, contributed to local infrastructure work including input into the local Hoarding Forums and protocols, and engaged with Community Connector and Social Prescriber networks. We also delivered a significant number of 1 to 1 support calls and email advice sessions to individuals seeking help directly.

Training, Presentations and Webinars

We delivered training, talks and webinars to a range of audiences, including Dora Brown, a Suffolk-based charity supporting families who are struggling to manage their home environments, as well as local Health and Wellbeing Networks in Bourne and Stamford, Social Prescriber and Community Connector networks, and a session for Care Knowledge on hoarding behaviours and children. We took an active role in Hoarding Awareness Week 2025, raising awareness with a particular focus on executive dysfunction. We contributed pro bono input to the development of a bespoke e-learning module, and delivered CPD-style training to a range of professional groups, including staff in the NHS, housing, and social care sectors.

Resource Development

We developed new guidance materials for families and friends of people affected by hoarding, to help those closest to someone struggling to offer more informed and compassionate support.

Support Group Spaces and Programmes

We ran a number of regular support spaces during the year, including in-person monthly sessions at MindSpace, a 16-week BIT (Buried in Treasures) programme, a new in-person UnBit monthly support group launched in October 2025, a separate face-to-face group focused on managing paperwork, an online monthly group for family and friends, and a quarterly forum for hoarding support group and programme facilitators to share practice and peer support.

Press, Radio and Blog Coverage

Our work was featured in local and national media during the year, including a local radio interview with Rob Persani, coverage in the Stamford and Rutland Mercury and the Daily Mail, blog contributions to specialist networks, and an appearance on the Lincolnshire Personalised Care- "It's all About People" podcast, helping to raise public awareness of hoarding, executive dysfunction, and the support available.

Ongoing Continuing Professional Development

To ensure our own practice remains current and safe, staff undertook a range of CPD during the year, including Stop Suicide training, Mental Health First Aid, a Motivational Interviewing refresher, and a Safeguarding Adults refresher.

Summary of Impact

Taken together, these activities have widened access to trauma-informed, non-judgemental support for people affected by hoarding and clutter, strengthened professional and multi-agency understanding of hoarding as a complex, often trauma- and neurodivergence-linked issue, and helped reduce stigma through public-facing awareness work, consistent with the company's founding objective of benefiting people with hoarding disorder, and those affected by hoarding behaviours, extreme clutter and chronic disorganization, across the Eastern area

Training delegates

We encourage honest and reflective feedback from delegates following every training session, and respond to this individually. This allows us to reflect continuously on programme content and inclusive facilitation approaches, and to iterate and improve. It has also led to the development of further bespoke training options in developing practice areas, always informed by the latest evidence-informed practice and research. This year we invested significant time and energy in developing new e-learning products, allowing us to continue to raise awareness, educate and inform while responding to the increasing challenge of limited training budgets among our stakeholders.

Support groups

We continue to focus on facilitating both face-to-face and online groups, encouraging participants to make decisions and shape the support they feel they would most benefit from. This is a continuous process from month to month, involving ongoing feedback and adaptation. By listening to the voices of those we seek to support, we launched a new online family and friends space during this reporting period, designed specifically for the seldom heard and seen loved ones who are themselves deeply impacted by hoarding.

Enquiries by email and telephone

We arranged for clients to provide feedback on all enquiries, and provided the necessary support and signposting. We know that the guidance we offer — and sometimes simply the option of having a space to talk through their circumstances — has been a significant benefit and relief to many. This includes the increasing number of families reaching out to us about signs of potential hoarding difficulties they believe they are seeing in their own children.

Community-based consultation with loved ones

We have worked closely with Anglia Ruskin University to complete community-based consultations with loved ones, exploring what effective support for them would look like. This included a number of online focus group sessions and a consensus exercise. The result is a specific resource for loved ones, which we intend to launch in the near future as part of a growing repository of resources.