Hands-on support/ psychotherapeutic support

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Volunteers needed: Psychotherapy clinic and non-profit organization

(Locations throughout the Bay Area for working with clients; supervision in San Francisco)

Ideal candidates: undergraduates, or recent graduates looking to go on to graduate school in psychology, social work, nursing or related helping professions; current graduate students needing/ wanting more clinical experience. Work consists of direct service, hands-on, with certain clients needing in-home help with organizing and de-cluttering.

Types of tasks involved:

Hands-on help, in-home, with clients with hoarding and cluttering issues, help them organize, help them manage anxiety enough to lessen their clutter, and eventually come to develop better organizational systems to reduce clutter in the future.

[See shows "Hoarders," A&E TV and "Hoarding: Buried Alive," TLC, for examples]

Background information: Clients with hoarding & cluttering issues tend to have anxiety or depression, may have trauma backgrounds, may be struggling with PTSD, OCD, ADD - various mental health issues that make it more difficult for them to make decisions, and/or have full access to their executive and organizing functions. The volunteer assists the client by offering a calm presence, a gentle "centering" capacity, that guides the client toward making decisions that would otherwise be difficult, as well as helping the client move toward, examine, and ultimately work through resistances to letting go of things that are no longer needed. The volunteer helps the client work toward goals in a step-by-step way, working through anxiety and/or OCD along the way.

Necessary: Must have own car, must have ability to be fragrance-free; must be sensitive, personable, patient, be organized oneself. One hour weekly supervision available (and required) by clinic director (psychologist), by advanced graduate students and/or by MFT interns with more experience with this population. Ideally applicant would need to be able to offer minimum of 4-5 hours/week (3-4 hours with the client, 1 hour supervision).

Benefit(s) to you: If you are an undergraduate applying to graduate school, this offers experience you can put on your resume, and a letter of recommendation; you might be able to get college credits for an "independent project;" if you are already in a graduate program (MFT or MSW or psychology), you might be able to use the clinical hours and hours of supervision for a practicum placement, etc.

Contact: Deborah Brenner-Liss, Ph.D., Laurel Heights Psychotherapy Associates,

Cell phone: 415-608-6307, to set up appointment; send resume and letter of interest to AptedSF@aol.com.

Specific locations in which we need volunteers at present: East Bay (Richmond); San Francisco, Pacifica

Additional opportunity: If someone is willing to work in the East Bay, and wants some hours worth of pay (even if it is only minimal wage, approximately $11/hour), up to 12 hours a week could be paid. This niche would require someone willing to become IHSS certified (In Home Support Services). IHSS requires a background check, fingerprints, and a 4-hour training.

Personal qualifications: The person needs to be patient, considerate, flexible, responsible and reliable. (For the particular client we are looking to help, the person who would be hired would need to like cats, or at least not be allergic to them.) The person would need to be able to show up on time, keep commitments, and have their own car.

Job duties would include: Helping the client go grocery shopping, do cooking or at least meal prep; cleaning, vacuuming, helping the client with organizing. Driving to grocery shopping, running errands, and possibly to some appointments.