Working with People who Hoard: An OT Perspective
Workshop Duration: 1.5 hours
Cost: $90.00
Do you know how to differentiate clutter and hoarding?
Are you concerned about balancing risk, trust and goals related to hoarding behaviours?
This session builds practical OT skills to assess impact, guide intervention and work collaboratively in complex hoarding contexts.
Purchase this workshop
Date: Thursday 26 March 2026
Time: 11:00am - 12:30pm AEDT
Duration: 1.5 hours
What will you learn?
In this workshop, you will gain practical knowledge and tools to:
- Understand hoarding, squalor and acquiring behaviours and how they differ from collectionism
- Identify cognitive, sensory, trauma related and psychosocial factors underpinning hoarding
- Assess functional impact across self care, mobility, communication, social interaction and self management
- Apply trauma informed, recovery oriented and harm minimisation approaches
- Conduct risk and capacity informed assessment in complex home environments
- Use exploratory and strengths based language to understand meaning, values and motivation
- Select and apply relevant assessment tools including observational and functional measures
- Develop collaborative OT intervention plans linked to participant goals
- Guide support workers using practical, respectful strategies
- Formulate NDIS aligned recommendations including capacity building and maintenance planning
Who is this workshop for?
This workshop is designed for Occupational Therapists working with adults who experience hoarding behaviours, particularly within psychosocial disability. It will be particularly useful for:
- OTs working in community and home based settings
- OTs supporting participants with complex mental health, trauma or cognitive presentations
- OTs involved in functional assessment, intervention planning and reporting under the NDIS
Why attend?
In this workshop, you will:
- Build confidence working with hoarding using an OT lens focused on function and participation
- Learn how to balance risk, autonomy and trust in complex environments
- Strengthen your clinical reasoning for NDIS evidence and recommendations
- Gain practical strategies you can apply immediately in real world practice
What's included?
- Gain online access to the workshop – live workshops are delivered via Zoom, while self-paced options include access to recorded sessions
- Download workshop slides and any resources provided by the presenter
- Enjoy six months of access to the recording and resources via your Verve OT Learning Library
- Receive a certificate of completion for your CPD records, available via email upon completion of the workshop
About the Presenter
Muriel Cummins is an Occupational Therapist with extensive experience across mental health and disability practice. In addition to being an OT, she holds a Master of Public Health. She has worked in clinical, not-for-profit, peak-body and private-practice settings.
A tireless advocate for an equitable, best-practice NDIS, Muriel sits on the Every Australian Counts steering Committee; on both NDIS and mental health Occupational Therapy Australia National Reference Groups; the Transforming Australia's Mental Health Service System (TAMHSS) committee; and the ICF-Australia Interest Group which explores the application of international frameworks in the Australian context.
Muriel co-founded the Occupational Therapy Society for Invisible and Hidden Disability (OTSi) and works to build this dynamic organisation.
She holds the Policy and Strategy Advisory role with the Australian Rehabilition and Assistive Technology Association (ARATA).
Her leadership was recognised when she received the Australian Allied Health Awards – Occupational Therapist of the Year (2022).
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Quick add to cartWhat Are Others Saying?
"Very informative. Our team works with clients who hoard or are at risk of homelessness so it was very relevant. I don't do a lot of NDIS work but the information and the assessment tools to use were useful."
Jackie L, Occupational Therapist
"Great workshop, with good conceptual context combined with practical tools I can implement."
Heidi M, Occupational Therapist
