This one is written for you, the professional, rather than the person you have in mind. If you are a GP, a social worker, a social prescribing link worker, an occupational therapist, or a housing officer, you have almost certainly met someone whose home has got on top of them. Someone where the post is piling up, the kitchen has stopped working as a kitchen, or a room has quietly closed for business. You can see that a clinical referral alone will not shift it, and you would like a calmer, more human option to offer.
This page explains what that option is, where it fits, and how a referral works in practice. If you would rather skip straight to the detail, the page for professionals covers it more formally, and you can always get in touch to talk a case through in principle.
Where in-home support fits in the picture
Self-neglect and overwhelm rarely sit on their own. There is usually something underneath, whether that is low mood, a recent loss, executive function that has stalled, a long stretch of feeling unable to start, or the kind of exhaustion that makes the smallest task feel enormous. The clinical side of that picture, the diagnosis, the medication, the talking therapy, belongs with you and your colleagues.
What consensual in-home support does is sit alongside that work, not in place of it. The clinical care addresses the cause. The home support addresses the environment the person is living in while the rest catches up. The two tend to help each other. A home that is starting to feel liveable again gives someone a little more capacity to engage with everything else you have put in place.
So the framing here is “as well as”, never “instead of”. This is not a substitute for a care package, a mental health referral, or a safeguarding response where one is needed. It is a practical, peer-informed pair of hands for the part that clinical services are not set up to deliver.
What the support is, and what it is not
It helps to be precise, because the words around this work get muddled.
What it is: practical, hands-on decluttering support, with organising and cleaning alongside, delivered in the person’s own home, at their pace, with someone who has lived experience of overwhelm and works without judgement. It is shaped by four years as an NHS Lived Experience Professional and two years as a Recovery College Peer Trainer, so the approach is peer-informed and trauma-aware rather than improvised.
What it is not: it is not a clinical or therapeutic service, and Kari is not a clinician. It is not house clearance, so nobody arrives with a van and bin bags to empty a property while the person stands to one side. And it is not done to anyone. The canonical line is 100% consensual support, which means nothing leaves without the person’s say-so, ever. No item, no decision, no pace is imposed.
That distinction matters for your records and for the conversation you have with the person. You are not referring them into another assessment. You are offering them company and practical help on something they have probably been facing alone.
How a referral actually works
There is no application form and no portal. A referral here is a conversation, started with the person’s consent.
In practice it looks like this. You mention the option to the person, gently, the way you would suggest any source of support. If they are open to it, you let them make contact themselves, or with their permission you make the introduction. From there, the first step is always a free initial consultation, which is mostly sitting and talking rather than clearing anything. The person works out whether this feels right for them, with no commitment and nothing to sign.
Consent sits at the centre of all of it. Because the support only ever happens with the person’s agreement, a referral is really just an introduction to something they can choose to take up or leave. If they are not ready, nothing is forced, and the door stays open for whenever they are.
Why lived experience and non-judgement matter here
The people you are thinking of are often the ones who have already said no to help, more than once. They have had a clipboard in their living room before. They have felt judged, or rushed, or talked about. By the time they reach you, the wariness is usually well earned.
Non-judgement is not a slogan in that context. It is the thing that decides whether someone opens the door a second time. Arriving as someone calm beside them, sleeves up, with no scoring and no shame, can make it easier to say yes where a more formal approach has stalled. The same is true of lived experience. There is a particular ease that comes from working with someone who has been there, who is not surprised by anything and does not need the situation explained or excused.
When someone knows I am not judging them, and that I have been there myself, something relaxes. I am not surprised by anything, and they don’t have to explain it or excuse it. For a lot of people that is the difference between opening the door once and opening it again.
This is also why the work suits people who have found other services hard to say yes to. The approach is built around meeting someone where they are, at their pace, rather than expecting them to arrive ready and tidy first.
Working alongside your team, and where the boundaries are
The aim is to slot in around the support that is already there, whether that is NHS, social care, or housing. Kari is happy to work in a way that respects an existing plan, to keep things simple for the person, and to stay in her lane.
That lane has clear edges, on purpose. This is consensual, practical home support. It is not a safeguarding service and does not replace one. Where there is risk that meets a safeguarding threshold, that stays with you and the statutory routes you already use, and Kari will flag anything of concern back through the appropriate channel rather than try to hold it alone. Kari is DBS checked and Anna Freud Centre trained, which supports safe practice, but the formal safeguarding duty does not move.
Being honest about that boundary is part of being a good referral partner. You should know exactly what you are sending someone towards, and exactly what remains your responsibility.
What you can forward to a client
When you want to hand something over, two things tend to work best.
The first is a relevant page they can read in their own time, with no pressure. If hoarding is part of the picture, hoarding support in Ealing explains the local, non-judgemental approach in plain terms. If a family member is the one most worried, how to help a family member who hoards is written for them.
The second is a direct way to make contact. The contact page has a phone number and a WhatsApp option, and the initial consultation is free, so there is a low-stakes first step the person can take whenever they feel ready.
A direct line for professionals
If you have someone in mind, you are welcome to make contact directly, before any referral, to talk the case through in principle. There is no formal process to start that conversation. You can reach Kari through the contact page, and the professionals page sets out the working relationship in a bit more detail.
The offer to you is simple. A calm, consensual, peer-informed option for the part of someone’s recovery that lives in their home, working alongside the care you already provide, with clear boundaries and no surprises.
FAQ
Is this a clinical or therapeutic service I can refer into? No. It is practical, peer-informed in-home support with decluttering and the home, delivered with 100% consensual support. Kari is not a clinician, so it works alongside clinical care rather than replacing it.
Do I need to complete a referral form? No. There is no form and no portal. With the person’s consent, you make an introduction or they make contact themselves, and the first step is a free initial consultation that is mostly a conversation.
Who handles safeguarding if a concern comes up? The formal safeguarding duty stays with you and the statutory routes you already use. This is consensual home support, not a safeguarding service, and Kari will flag concerns back through the appropriate channel rather than hold them alone. Kari is DBS checked and Anna Freud Centre trained.
Which areas are covered? The base is West Ealing, W13, covering Ealing, Hanwell, Acton, Greenford, Northolt, Perivale, Southall, Hounslow, Chiswick, Brentford, Isleworth, Feltham, Hammersmith and Fulham. Travel within 40 minutes of W13 by public transport is included; further out I come by minicab and the fare is passed on at cost, quoted by postcode.
Can I talk a case through before referring anyone? Yes. You are welcome to get in touch in principle, with no formal process, to work out whether this is a good fit for someone you have in mind.
If you have someone in mind, you can get in touch to talk it through, or forward them the offer of a free initial consultation. No judgement, at their pace, with someone who’s been there.