Working with people affected by hoarding and squalor - CAIRNS

Back to Cairns by popular demand!

Hoarding and squalor can have a significant impact on health and wellbeing of individuals and surrounding communities. It can also have implications for tenancy sustainment.

This training will explore the complexities of working with hoarding and squalor. It will provide participants with a better understanding of hoarding and squalor, tools for screening and assessment in both outreach and non-outreach settings, risk management processes and strategies (particularly to manage issues such as environmental safety, animal safety, child safety and fire hazards) and strategies to implement an intervention.

'Trash or Treasure' utilises best-practice frameworks to increase the confidence of clinical and non-clinical workers to providing a respectful, client centred intervention. The training draws on theory, skills and strategies from therapeutic frameworks such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, Motivational Interviewing, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy and Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and actively focuses on harm minimisation strategies.

This training is suitable for tenancy and property managers of community housing providers, support workers of specialist homelessness services, and local government officers.

Date: Friday 10th October 2025

Time: 9:30 – 4:30pm

Venue: Rydges Esplanade Resort Cairns

209-217 Abbott St, Cairns City QLD 4870

Tickets:

Member of Q Shelter or ATSI Housing QLD $215 + GST

Non-member $245 + GST

Students $150.00 + GST

People with lived experience of housing need and homelessness FREE

Includes: Morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea

Participants at the end of the workshop will:

• Have a better understanding of hoarding and squalor

• Be able to screen and assess for the presence of hoarding and/or squalor in an outreach or non-outreach setting

• Identify and apply skills to manage challenging client behaviours which may inhibit engagement

• Undertake a risk assessment and identify appropriate evidence-based risk management strategies

• Identify and implement harm minimisation strategies

• Identify and apply best practice strategies for client engagement, assessment, risk management and intervention

Please contact the Q Shelter Events Team on [email protected] if you are experiencing any barriers for registering.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Rydges Esplanade Resort Cairns, 209-217 Abbott Street, Cairns City, Australia