What Every Professional Organizer Needs to Know About Hoarding

Compulsive hoarding is a complex disorder. This book provides professional organizers, social workers, mental health practitioners and anyone who encounters people who hoard, with the basics about the disorder. The psychological underpinnings and the organizational challenges of people who acquire and save so excessively they undermine their health and safety is explained. This is a hopeful book that examines creative approaches which combine organizing and therapy, self-help efforts, support groups, supplemental services and other methods for making a difference in the life of a person who hoards. The Foreword is written by Dr. David Tolin, a worldwide authority on the topic. The author is Judith Kolberg, the founder of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization.

Judith Kolberg founded FileHeads Professional Organizers in 1989. FileHeads clientele includes business owners, entrepreneurs, upper management and corporate executives from all over the country, and individuals with special organizing challenges including people with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and compulsive hoarders. Judith is the founder of the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD) and served as its director for seven years. She wrote her groundbreaking book, Conquering Chronic Disorganization in 1999. She is the recipient of the industry's highest honors including the prestigious Founder's Award from the National Association of Professional Organizers (NAPO) and the Highlighter Award from the National Study Group on Chronic Disorganization (NSGCD). Her contribution to the inaugural certification program for professional organizers was recognized with the President's Award. She is the former President of the Georgia chapter of NAPO and former Director of Professional Development for NAPO. Judith's second book, What Every Professional Organizer Needs to Know About Chronic Disorganization launched an entire profession of organizers specifically dedicated to addressing the needs of individuals who are chronically disorganized. What Every is a required textbook for the certification of organizers specializing in chronic disorganization. Conquering is a recommended text for the certification of all professional organizers. In 2002, ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life was published by Routledge, an imprint of the Taylor & Francis, a worldwide academic press. It is co-authored with Dr. Kathleen Nadeau. Deeply affected by the events of September 11th, 2001, she wrote Organize for Disaster: Prepare Your Family and Your Home for Any Natural or Unnatural Disaster. Her latest book is What Every Professional Organizer ( mental health practitioner, social worker and community agency) Needs to Know About Hoarding. Judith's innovative organizing methods have brought the benefits of organization to thousands of people who are challenged by disorganization. She has sold over 200,000 books in the US, Canada, England, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Korea. Judith is a native of Levittown, New York and a graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton with a B.A. in Sociology. She derives her organizing skills from her early career as a political organizer doing lobbying, special events, and campaigning, and from her background in executive office management. Her depth of experience and humorous delivery has made her a popular corporate trainer and keynote speaker. She addresses live, by teleclass and webinar approximately 1,500 people per year on organization/disorganization topics and has been covered in more than 60 print, TV and radio media outlets. She resides in Atlanta.