January 30, 2026 Submitted by Social Work Clinician Suzanne Otte
The towns of Cohasset, Hingham, and Scituate joined together in 2021 to create a collaborative approach to public health and education. Through efforts to provide proactive, innovative, and compassionate public health initiatives, the South Shore Public Health Collaborative is committed to ensuring that resources are available to help residents thrive. A soon-to-launch hoarding support group is one such resource.
A 12-week support group for excessive clutter and hoarding behavior will kick off on Tuesday, February 10, at 4:00 p.m. at the Scituate Senior Center. This supportive, in-person group will feature a review and discussion of the book “Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding.” Topics will include defining hoarding, understanding how it develops, and gaining motivation and skills to reduce clutter.
The group will be led by Scituate-based social work clinician Suzanne Otte and is based on 20 years of research and effective interventions. The group is open to residents of Cohasset, Hingham, and Scituate and requires registration, as space is limited.
To register, call or text (508) 964-3336 or email SouthShoreCRC@gmail.com.
Drive through almost any town on the South Shore and you’ll find large self-storage complexes. According to the Self-Storage Association, there are more than 52,000 storage facilities in the U.S., providing approximately 2 billion square feet of storage space to 14.6 million households.
Today, more than one in 10 households rents a storage unit.
Over the past four decades, the self-storage sector has continued to thrive as one of the fastest-growing commercial real estate sectors—and that trend continues today.
Stuff plays a significant role in many lives. For some, an overabundance of clutter may indicate an underlying mental health condition known as hoarding disorder (HD). According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition (DSM-5), symptoms include:
- Persistent difficulty discarding items, regardless of actual value
- Strong urges to save items, accompanied by distress associated with discarding
- Congestion of active living areas due to clutter and an inability to use spaces for their intended purpose
- Clinically significant distress in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning, including safety
- Hoarding symptoms that are not due to a general medical condition (e.g., brain injury)
- Hoarding that is not better explained by symptoms of another mental health condition (e.g., lack of motivation in Major Depressive Disorder)
- HD may be further specified by excessive acquisition and level of insight into the problem
Hoarding is estimated to occur in 2–6 percent of the population. On average, the severity of hoarding behavior increases over time, and individuals tend to seek help around age 50. According to the Massachusetts Housing Partnership Center for Housing Data, residents aged 50 and older represent nearly half of the population in the towns of Cohasset, Hingham, and Scituate. Assuming a prevalence between 2 and 6 percent, hoarding may impact approximately 1,000 to 3,000 people across those towns.
Legacy of Hoarding Help
For more than a decade, hoarding has been addressed in Cohasset, Hingham, and Scituate through the formation of hoarding response teams that include municipal professionals from public health departments, councils on aging, fire and police departments, inspectional services, and animal control.
Past hoarding programs have included training for town personnel facilitated by hoarding researchers from Boston University; treatment and support groups for individuals with hoarding disorder; training peer leaders to facilitate support groups; and community forums for residents seeking to learn more about hoarding and available resources.
The work to provide hoarding-related programming in Cohasset, Hingham, and Scituate has been supported by numerous organizations, including MassHousing, Blue Hills Community Health Alliance, South Shore Elder Services, and the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.