Green Seal revises cleaning services standard

Service provider introduces hoarding cleanup

Friday, May 27, 2016

ServiceMaster of Canada, a firm that provides services for residential and commercial properties, is expanding its restoration services to include hoarding and extreme cleanup as part of its ServiceMaster Restore business. The company is also hosting seminars to train industry professionals who work with people that hoard.

These changes are part of an ongoing effort by ServiceMaster Restore to raise awareness of hoarding, which was recently added to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, a manual used to diagnose disorders by mental health professionals. The company also helps connect those that suffer from a hoarding disorder with professional resources.

“Dealing with hoarding requires sensitivity and specialized training,” said Stephan Roy, national director of ServiceMaster Restore, in a press release. “For more than 60 years, we’ve made it our job to help people return to healthy living environments. Hoarding is a natural extension of our services, given our unique expertise in professional cleaning and disaster restoration services.”

Other efforts the company is taking to support the awareness of mental disorders includes a partnership that began in 2014 with hoarding expert and television celebrity Matt Paxton, whose specialized training program teaches professionals how to understand and work with hoarders.

Paxton, who is known as one of the top extreme cleaning experts in the United States, founded the company Clutter Cleaner, is the author of The Secret Lives of Hoarders and was a featured expert on the television show Hoarders. Paxton has joined ServiceMaster Restore as its in-house hoarding cleanup expert to provide specialized hands-on training to participating franchisees across Canada.

According to Roy, the company’s approach to handling these extreme cleanup jobs include focusing on the individual and trying to understand the emotional impact of hoarding before providing support throughout the cleanup process.

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