Approaching home care for clients that are struggling with a mental health or addiction disorder requires a certain level of empathy and understanding about people in general. It takes a combination of love and compassion. Understanding and patience is involved, along with the subtle art of listening with care.

While providing cleaning services for the Region of Waterloo clients, we at Home and Life Organizers approach each unique situation with compassion. It’s essential. An adage that goes a long way is, that if you are doing things with love and compassion, you can’t go wrong. We try to incorporate this philosophy in everything we do at Home and Life Organizers.

Compassion can further be defined if we look at some of the qualities of compassion, such as kindness, helpfulness, patience, understanding, thoughtfulness and of being of service to our fellow human beings are all qualities of compassion. A great compassion synonym is simply put is, humanity.

At HALO it is top priority that all unique situations that we find ourselves working in are met with unparalleled love and compassion. – This is critical in working in the field of Mental Health and Addictions. A quote I like is quite simple. “No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.” – Aesop. Kindness comes from being compassionate, and is a priceless quality. There are benefits to living life with compassion, and this article presents a great read on the subject of the compassionate mind.

Mental health can have an impact on behaviour, and at times, with certain mental health issues, symptoms can become unmanageable leading to a situation on the home front that is not ideal. Hoarding for example, can lead to a build up of items that are difficult for someone to let go of. To the untrained eye, first observations could lead to an uncomfortable situation for both the worker and the client.

Mental health is not the only thing that can lead to a home becoming unmanageable to people struggling in the community. Other situations can also develop. Addiction, physical disability, or even being elderly can lead to an inability to manage the home front.

Quite often, feelings of shame and low self worth accompany any type of disorder, and when an individual becomes overwhelmed with the day-to-day care taking of a home, those feelings can become magnified. It can be quite easy to fall behind when coping mechanisms and supports are not in place.

Aside from the shame and low self worth feelings that accompany anyone struggling with any mental health or substance dependency issue, there is also the stigma associated with openly talking about these types of problems. It is a known fact that progress is being made around the stigma associated with these types of disorders, however we still have a long way to go.

In addition to this, some of the challenges we are facing like the isolating effects of a COVID-19 lockdown add even more pressure and strain to individuals who may have concurrent issues affecting their ability to manage the home front.

At Home and Life Organizers, it is an absolute must that our staff approach each situation with care and understanding. We extend our hands to help. Having an educational background in mental health, we have been able to develop a system to provide support for helping clients get their homes in order, while at the same time providing a confidential, compassionate, and understanding service. An important job like the work we do for our clients requires a unique person to do the work effectively with true compassion, and we here at Home and Life Organizers believe the work we do is incredibly important.

Our services provide an opportunity to help clients that are simply overwhelmed with their living situation, while at the same time, we bring a unique solution to the table to bridge individuals into community supports that may help them manage symptoms of any disorder they may be struggling with.

If you are struggling with any type of disorder, and you have found that your home life has recently become too difficult to manage, feel free to get in touch with me. Conversations have no cost, and I can confidentially answer any questions you may have regarding home cleaning services, our network of community supports that we work with in the Region of Waterloo, or how to approach a situation delicately that may have arisen for a family member. Most importantly we are here for you.

For some more insight into the type of work Home and Life Organizers does, check out our article, Deep cleaning a home after a substance dependency.