I was watching the show Hoarders last night and I thought it would be an interesting topic for my blog post. I actually only watched about fifteen minutes of the show because I was really grossed out! Today I was thinking about my reaction to the lady featured on the show last night and I was disappointed in myself. It took a short fifteen minutes for me to be so repulsed by this lady’s house and I hadn’t even heard why she started hoarding. I judged the book by its cover and never bothered to learn about her personal story. For everyone who is unaware of what hoarding is, it is the collecting of miscellaneous items that people believe have personal value and cannot part with. Hoarding is also believed to be related to obsessive compulsive disorder.
Liberalism is based on equal opportunity for all no matter their life situations. It also focuses on help for those who are underprivileged such as people with mental disabilities. Based on liberal views I decided to see what specific resources there are for hoarders in Winnipeg. I was completely disappointed with my findings or should I say finding. Now you have to remember I didn’t do an extensive amount of research but I searched stuff that I thought the average person would. I was googling phrases like “hoarders Winnipeg,” “help hoarding Winnipeg,” and “OCD Winnipeg.” With each different phrase I typed, I did find a resource but it happened to always be the same one, which was OCD Centre Manitoba. It had a specific support group for hoarders and those affected by hoarding and also had counselling services. It was great to find this website but disappointing at the same time. If someone was to Google “depression Winnipeg,” they would find themselves with at least five different resources.
What happened to equal opportunity for all especially those who are underprivileged?
Alexis B.
This blog points out some very interesting facts. I agree with you that it is very disappointing that you were only capable of finding one resource in Winnipeg for hoarders. This makes it very difficult for the people that are actually wanting help to find the resources available to them, considering that they have very limited choices. It is up to us to take action and change this cycle of unequal opportunity.
ReplyDeleteMelanie.F
Hi Alexis! The honesty of your blog post was great. It's interesting how you had an initial reaction to the show, but then felt guilty after reflecting on it later. I also liked that you actually took the initiative to search for resources. My mom suffers from OCD and finding help for it has not been easy. She struggles just to get through each day.
ReplyDeleteCrystal M.
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ReplyDeleteAs social workers, we get an entirely different view of people rejected by society, as we listen to their stories and support them in their life journey. I really like the honesty of your post, too, and the way that you came back to that reaction and thought some more about it. It sounds like you provoked a similar reflection in some of your class mates -- good work!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI found it very interesting that you tied hoarding into social policy Alexis. Nice social work lens! I appreciate your enthusiasm to Google how many social services exist for people who suffer from this disease. I think that hoarding is a stigmatized mental disorder that a lot of people are ashamed of and in many cases probably goes undetected in the city of Winnipeg. Perhaps there are such people in the city that did just as you did after watching Hoarders and Googled where they could get help. I think that this show is a good way for people to learn about the disease and for the greater society to realize that such behaviors probably exist close to home. I propose that an anonymous group meeting for OCD hoarders would probably be a good social service in Winnipeg and it is my guess that more people would show up than may be expected.
ReplyDeleteTara Purvis
Thanks so much for this post! I saw about half an episode of this show, and I felt so overwhelmed and disgusted with the way the woman in the episode was living I turned the chanel. Just like you Alexis, I also judged a book by it's cover. When people have such dramatic and irrational behaviours like hoarders, it's easy to be shocked and look the other way. But, like you said we have no clue why people are behaving this way, and it is obviously a symptom of a mental disability they have been inflicted with. This post made me think a lot about how I react to people who behave in what I feel to be very problematic ways. After reading this I'm for sure going to think about what could have made someone this way, and not just look the other way!
ReplyDelete-Eliza R.
That is very surprising that there is only one hoarding resource available in Winnipeg. Hoarders often only show very extreme cases of hoarding, but more hidden and less serious cases are probably much more common than we think. I know of a woman who hoards but she says it is not that bad. It is not that bad as the episodes on the show, but do you think that the show Hoarders has caused us to think that hoarding is only extreme cases when other minor cases can still uncover mental illnesses?
ReplyDelete-Avery F
I thought this blog was a real eye opener. I agree completely that every disorder needs to have many resources that can help a person over come their disorder. I think some people view other mental disorders as 'more important' when in reality each disorder affects a persons life and each person does need their own kind of help. Knowing that some people may be trying their best to help themselves but are having difficulties due to a lack of knowledge and resources is heart breaking.
ReplyDelete-Brettany G.
Hello Alexis, I have watched that show myself and sometimes it’s hard to understand and get into the heads of these individuals to understand why they can’t just stop or get to this point. It’s what got them to this point that is the important thing to understand. Yes, I agree that there should be more services available to these individuals. Only having one option or few options for the city of Winnipeg is not enough by far. If someone decides to get help but there’s no options how do we expect them to make positive change. Good post!
ReplyDeleteNicole G