Service Highlight: Clouds End CIC
Author: Indi Lotay
The Waiting Room is very pleased to be a part of Mental Health Awareness Week 2024, which takes place from 13th to 19th May.
Mental Health Awareness Week is bringing the UK together to focus on getting good mental health by tackling stigma and help people understand and prioritise their and others' mental health. The theme for Mental Health Awareness Week 2024 is ‘Movement: Moving more for mental health’.
Here at The Waiting Room we focus on Birmingham and Solihull communities in respect of their mental health, well-being and quality of life and we work with key local and national organisations that can help you be more informed of the support available.
This week is also recognised as National Hoarding Awareness Week and with the overlap between mental health and hoarding it seemed appropriate that we highlight Clouds End CIC.
Clouds End CIC is one of the country’s leaders in working with people with hoarding issues in the UK. A hoarding disorder is where someone acquires an excessive number of items and stores them in a chaotic manner, usually resulting in unmanageable amounts of clutter. Clouds End believe the process of supported de-cluttering has to be fun or it won’t succeed. People often start off frightened about what may be asked of them but the idea is to help people slowly change their behaviour at a pace they find comfortable not to compel them to make dramatic, shocking changes.
Clouds End CIC offer services to anyone looking to tackle a hoarding situation that is causing a problem and provide training which gives individuals self-knowledge, so they know how to handle it. Support is provided to the following groups:
Helping individuals - This involves working with individuals, in their homes with a gentle, non-judgmental approach. The individual is always in control and the plan developed will always be based around their needs and abilities. Clouds End CIC works with individuals to develop their skills and confidence needed to regain control over the possessions that have overwhelmed them. Clouds End CIC highlights that it is not the individual’s fault that they are in their current position as hoarding does affect the way that they think. By providing information to the individual, they are then in a position to tackle the issue.
Working with Support workers or carers that may be involved with the individual’s development – Clouds End CIC help Housing Associations and Councils to develop multi-agency task forces to help address the complex needs faced when working with individuals with hoarding issues. Areas which are considered are as follows:
- How to set a task force up
- Who should participate
- Developing protocols and procedures
- Measuring outcomes
Ways to start
Join the Clouds End CIC support group which takes place on the first Thursday of the month at Northfield Fire station, between 2-3.30pm
Join the Clouds End CIC online support group or WhatsApp support group by emailing help@cloudsend.org.uk
The ‘Stay In to Sort Out’ Facebook group has also been created as an online support group. This group posts how to videos which over all the aspects covered in the support groups
For more information please visit: www.cloudsend.org.uk