Our Mission

Our team aims to help our local adult, especially older adult, and veteran populations in San Diego who struggle with difficulties with excess clutter in their homes and/or hoarding. Individuals with excess clutter often have persistent difficulty discarding or parting with possessions due to distress associated with discarding, urges to save, and/or difficulty making decisions about what to keep and what to discard. As a result, clutter accumulates and fills active living areas, preventing the normal use of space and resulting in distress and disability. By studying the intersections of neuropsychology and rehabilitation strategies, our goal is to improve cognitive functioning. In doing so, we hope to assist people in reducing the clutter in their homes and accomplishing goals that aim to improve overall wellbeing and mental health.   

Dr. Catherine Ayers’ and colleagues have developed a manualized treatment protocol called CREST (Cognitive Rehabilitation and Exposure/Sorting Treatment), consisting of 2 main components: Compensatory Cognitive Training (CCT) and Exposure Training (ET). CREST has shown efficacy in reducing hoarding symptoms while also demonstrating increases in everyday functional skills (Ayers et al., 2018). To request access to the CREST manual, please see our resources tab for more information.  

Currently there are two ongoing studies focused on treatment for clutter/hoarding problems. In collaboration with the VA San Diego Healthcare System, we are actively recruiting veterans for a treatment study for clutter/hoarding. Our second study is also a treatment program in collaboration with UC San Diego Health, which is actively recruiting community members over the age of 50 who struggle with clutter/hoarding. In our treatment programs we are committed to bringing compassionate care to all individuals who meet criteria and are able to participate in our studies. We are focused assisting all members of our San Diego communities and seek to find individuals from all communities and backgrounds who would benefit from treatment for hoarding/clutter problems. If interested in joining one of our studies, please see our Current Studies page.