Hoarding expert to speak in Arlington next week

By Brock Parker, Town Correspondent

Arlington will host a lecture about the emotions behind hoarding and effective ways to intervene with people accumulating too many possessions.

Psychologist Gail Steketee, an expert on obsessive-compulsive disorder and dean of Boston University’s School of Social Work, will deliver her presentation Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 7:30 p.m. at Arlington High School. Admission is $10.

The presentation comes several months after the state Department of Mental Health awarded Arlington a grant to support a hoarding response team.

Arlington Community Education and the town’s Health and Human Services Department are hosting the presentation, and in an announcement said it will be of interest to human service and health professionals, as well as people with hoarding tendencies and their families.

Steketee is one of the country’s leading researchers on hoarding and is coauthor of “The Hoarding Handbook” for human service professionals and “Stuff: Compulsive Hoarding and the Meaning of Things.”

Her presentation is titled “Buried Under Too Much Stuff: Understanding and Treating Hoarding.” It will focus on the emotions behind hoarding, the meaning of objects and will provide a model for understanding hoarding. She will also outline effective interventions and conclude with a question and answer period.