Practice learning story: Martin & The Fab Four

“I was anxious about being evicted from my home”
“I get on well with my social worker, I felt listened to and involved in the moving [of my collectibles] and happy with my home”

Martin in conversation with the writer (June, 2026).

I began working with Martin three years ago following an AP1 referral to social work. ¹The case cycled through a series of Adult Support and Protection (ASP) inquiries and then onto an investigation and a period of ASP case management. I’m now Martin’s allocated worker alongside continued ASP work.

Martin has a diagnosed mild learning disability and lives independently in a housing association flat. He has a best friend that he sees every week and a close relationship with his sister. Over the years, and especially since the Covid pandemic when he lost his job, Martin has amassed a considerable amount of collectibles in his flat; mainly pop cultural items of bands like The Beatles and Celtic and Liverpool FC merchandise. Martin never throws things away and keeps all the packaging and other items in his flat. Martin doesn’t like the word ‘hoarder’, so in my work with him we always referred to his items as collectibles. To give you a picture of what Martin’s home was like at the beginning of the intervention, it was at a Level 3 on the Clutter Image Rating Scale. In Glasgow that means a Multi Disciplinary Team (MDT) approach is recommended and the level of ‘hoarding’ constitutes a ‘safeguarding alert’.

Despite his reservations about social work intervention, Martin was happy to meet with me and we were able to build a relationship based on some of our shared interests like favourite Beatles and Kinks songs – but Martin didn’t share enthusiasm for the post-punk stylings of Mark E. Smith and The Fall. My approach was influenced by the Hoarding Rating Scale Interview that focuses on the environmental and emotional impacts hoarding has on individuals and is something I found in the National Adult Protection Coordinator resource – Self Neglect and Hoarding: Practitioner and Strategic Briefing (2018)².

Building trust through the early stages of the meeting allowed us to lay the groundwork for discussions about Martin’s collectibles, his life narrative and plan to support him to sort his items and home environment. Martin disclosed that his mental health deteriorated around 2021, when he was made redundant during the Covid epidemic. Martin felt like he was cut loose from his job very suddenly and therefore felt unappreciated and found it difficult to find a new routine. Despite having a close friend, he felt socially isolated, and according to Martin, this is when his collecting really started to intensify. It is important to highlight that Martin’s collecting impulse intensified, but it has been a constant presence in his life and this was disclosed by his sister who was involved in the intervention with Martin’s consent.

Throughout the intervention it was important to manage Martin’s fears and anxieties. Because of the housing officer’s involvement, Martin thought that he was going to be evicted. I worked with the housing officer to inform Martin about his rights as a tenant and that because he was engaging with us, his tenancy was secure. Alongside Martin, we devised a plan that involved creating a route into the house so a routine gas inspection could be completed, which it was.

The next stage of the plan involved a referral to the Inclusion Team to assist Martin with sorting and storing his collectibles into crates. Martin agreed to tackle the hallway first and once items had been packed here, other crates from different rooms could be stored there as well.

After that we planned to organise a storage facility – that Martin’s sister agreed to fund – and for crates to be stored there so that Martin’s flat could be cleaned, decorated and other storage solutions could be decided upon. Again, Martin’s sister agreed to pay for this work.

Martin agreed for the Inclusion Workers to support him 2-3 hours per week, but this intervention was ultimately unsuccessful. We did get some crates into storage, but Martin would avoid planned meetings and only engage sporadically. He became more anxious by the interventions, while saying that the work on the flat would be good for him too. At the same time, Martin felt pressure from his sister who was keen to decorate and he felt the work was going too quickly.

Between 2023 – 2025, a less restrictive approach was adopted and the plan I described above was attempted several times with various tweaks. For example: using a wall planner diary to plan out tasks. But it became clear that this approach was not working and Martin’s physical and mental health was deteriorating due to his anxieties regarding the dilemma of his home environment, which had started to become more of a concern. Martin was now experiencing more cold and flu-like symptoms, there was persistent damp in his home, and he had started to store items in his bathroom – obstructing his ability to wash.

At this point the risks had increased and the support Martin was receiving from the Inclusion Team was not moving forward. In late 2025 it was recommended that the case move to an ASP investigation and subsequent ASP case management. The housing association was now considering eviction processes due to a breach in tenancy.

A relationship-based approach was still crucial to engaging with Martin, but a new plan was needed. Through informal meetings with Martin and formal core groups also involving his best-friend and sister, a plan to engage Clyde Care was formulated.

Workers from Clyde Care came to meet Martin at his house and discuss a plan that he was happy with. Clyde Care agreed to sort and clear Martin’s collectibles over a four-day period and remove them temporarily to the storage facility. Over this short period I met with Martin every morning when the work took place and we went for a coffee near his flat. Martin was anxious about the work taking place, but understood it was necessary. I re-assured Martin that he had the keys to the storage facility and we arranged to go and visit his collectibles. I also reassured him that the storage was temporary, and the next stage involved a clean and figuring out how best to store his items. Again, the work from Clyde Care was paid for by Martin’s sister and so it happened quickly.

At present, Martin is now waiting for his flat to be decorated and his belongings are still in storage. What I have described here is partially successful and has dealt with the immediate risks of the home environment, but the psychological behaviours behind Martin’s compulsion to collect are still present and he’s not fully addressed his mental health concerns. However, with the support of his best friend he has attended his GP. Although Martin is sceptical, he has agreed to trial medication for his anxiety and is open to further appointments with his GP.

In summary

It is safe to say that with most social work interventions and especially with hoarding there is no neat conclusion. However what Martin’s case study highlights is the importance of relationship-based work to build trust with the client to ensure that they are part of the intervention. It is also essential to get to grips with the deeper socio-psychological underpinnings of hoarding and this involves inter-professional work with GPs and our community mental health colleagues.

Endnotes

The Taskforce Manifesto calls for relationship-based, person-centered and trauma-informed practice as outlined here, and for eviction proceedings to be a last resort and not threatened when the person is engaging with support – You can read the full Manifesto here

If you or someone you know wants to open up a conversation with their GP about hoarding behaviour, or to ask about Psychological support, this free ‘ice-breaker form’ resource can help. There are other free conversation opener tools and practical resources available from the Hoarding Academy.

A selection of Adult Support and Protection resources connected to hoarding can be found on the ASPire webpage.

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¹An AP1 Adult Protection Referral form is used by professionals and agencies to report concerns about an adult at risk of harm or abuse, based on three criteria as set out under the Adult Support and Protection (Scotland) Act 2007.

²Self-neglect and hoarding are often combined in policies and practices although the two are not the same thing. Read more about this in the Iriss Insight: https://iriss.org.uk/resource/hoarding-disorder-towards-unified-approach-beyond-disciplines/