Making Room
We work in a therapeutic and practical way to help people who hoard to declutter their homes and achieve their goals. We also offer training and capacity-building support for professionals supporting people who hoard.
Find out what we’re doing for Hoarding Awareness Week 2026 and join the national conversation about hoarding.
Making Room works with people who find themselves with a cluttered home. Whilst wanting to declutter, people often feel ‘frozen’ or ‘stuck’ and don’t know where to start. We help them break through that barrier.
Our approach is practical and therapeutic, ensuring people remain at the centre of their support and retain agency over decision making and planning.
How we work
We are one of a very few services that work 1:1 with people in their own homes to support them to declutter. Regardless of the level of clutter, we work with and alongside people to achieve the outcomes they want.
Opinions and perceptions of what hoarding behaviour is vary significantly; what one person considers severe hoarding, another may consider only a temporary excess of things. We look at hoarding in a slightly different way - what risks are present due to the hoarding, and how these can be ameliorated.
We work with people to agree a plan of action and reduce the impact of hoarding on their physical and mental wellbeing through regular visits to the home, ongoing conversations, and lots of practical hands-on support.
During our decluttering sessions, we talk about life, the universe, and everything (including hoarding, when people are comfortable doing so). At the same time, we support people to make decisions about what to keep and discard.
Gaining perspective on someone’s own understanding of their situation is so important, because there are lots of reasons why people hoard. Taking time to understand allows us to learn about people’s needs, and figure out how best to support them and achieve the outcomes they want.
What to expect
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Making a Referral
New referrals should be submitted with a fully complete referral form so we can carry out an initial ‘paper’ and risk assessment before we visit for the first time.
We will carry out a 30 minute assessment visit at no cost to estimate how many decluttering sessions might be needed.
We also use the assessment visit to confirm that the person is committed to participating in the decluttering process to make their home safer.
Following the assessment visit, we’ll provide a formal estimate from us detailing the costs. We require funding to be confirmed before we can start work.
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During Delivery
Decluttering sessions are usually 2.5 hours long. We tailor session length and frequency depending on the needs and preferences of the person and/or the level of risk and urgency.
During the sessions, we help people develop a framework to make decisions about items they want to keep, and provide practical help with removing those they don’t.
While we’re decluttering, we talk with the person about their hoarding and help them identify the triggers so they can achieve long-lasting behaviour change.
We stay in regular contact with the referrer and the individual’s support network to update them on progress and discuss any challenges.
When most of the agreed sessions have been delivered, we’ll assess where we are and talk to the person and referrer about whether any additional sessions may be required.
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After Completion
Once the case has closed, we will provide an update to the referrer and contact the individual approximately two months after the final session to see how things are going and whether reduced clutter levels have been maintained.
As a follow-up and for longer-term support, some people may be interested in joining one of our groups for people who hoard to help keep on top of their clutter. Email makingroom@mrsindependentliving.org or call 0330 380 1013 to find out what’s currently running.
Do you want help with hoarding or do you know someone who does?
Please note that we may not be able to accept decluttering referrals from outside our area of north east London. However, you’re welcome to contact us for a conversation about what we could offer and discuss our training and capacity-building offer.