Join Our Making Space Team
We need volunteers to join our Making Space project
Do you enjoy organising, meeting people & practical jobs?
Do you have a couple of hours free a week to volunteer?
We need dedicated & empathetic individuals to help people with hoarding tendencies to make space in their homes and lives
Hear more about our project on BBC Bristol Radio with Naomi ‘Here’
Hear more about how our projects helps people from our client Pete ‘Here’
Read more about our project on the BBC Bristol News website ‘Here’
Do you know someone who hoards?
If you want to help someone who has problems with hoarding, you can refer them to our free Making Space service which provides practical and emotional support. You can also make a direct referral for yourself.
Making Space is led by a team of staff and invaluable volunteers in Bristol ONLY, we offer support in your home as well as a support group for people with hoarding tendencies.
We are funded by Bristol City Council and the Dolphin Society to work with home owners and private tenants in Bristol.
We also have funding to work with Bristol City Council tenants, all referrals must come from housing officers. If you would like to make a referral for a BCC tenant, please make contact with their housing officer.
At the moment we aren’t funded to work with Housing Association tenants.
Some people with hoarding tendencies can gather an excessive number of items in their home and store them in a chaotic manner. Making Space supports people with clearing and organising which increases their well-being and makes their home safer. Our aim is to empower individuals to sustainably ‘make space’ not only in their home, but also their life and mind; increasing their confidence, well-being and self-efficacy.
This is an approach that is proven to be successful and far more effective than other alternatives, such as statutory or landlord intervention.
We are a small project with a high demand for our service, although there will be a delay in when we get to visit clients please do not let this deter you from making a referral. We are happy to discuss each referral on a case by case basis making assessments on high risk referrals as soon as feasibly possible.
The case managers work with higher levels of possessions and risk with the aim of reducing risk so the client can continue working with a volunteer.
How to make a referral
Download and read the following documents (please note that you will need to open these in Microsoft Edge)
- Referral assessment form
- Information leaflet for referrers
- Information leaflet for clients
- Clutter image rating scale
Complete the Making Space Referral assessment form and email it to making.space@wecareandrepair.org.uk
Contact us for more information – making.space@wecr.org.uk
- Once we have received your referral we will check to see if the individual is eligible for support.
- We will reply asking for more documents where needed / if the referral has been accepted or declined.
- If eligible we will contact the referrer to arrange a visit at the individual’s home.
- Once we’ve done a home visit we will assess whether we can offer support to the individual and let the referrer know. If eligible the client will be allocated a case manager and/or volunteer as soon as someone is available.
- Once we start working with an individual we will put in place a support plan outlining how many visits we will make. This depends on clients’ needs and availability of Making Space team
- We encourage all our clients to attend the Making Space Support Group where they can share their experiences with others who struggle to let go of items.
- Please note, we do not work with clients at level 1-2 on the CIRS
- We are unable to respond to all referrals directly as most of our time is spent supporting people in their homes. Supporting clients is our priority so please bear with us while we get back to you.
Become a Making Space Volunteer
More information
Alternative support agencies include:
