A Calgary program is helping Karen Blatchford and other seniors who hoard items. (CBC)

A new program in Calgary is aimed at helping seniors who suffer from hoarding, a mental disorder that causes them to obsessively keep what other people consider junk.

While once considered an eccentricity or a nuisance, hoarding is now more correctly considered a mental disorder, says Jane Reid, a social worker who is heading up the new program through Calgary Family Services.

Hoarders, who are often seniors, tend to define themselves by what they have. Reid's job is to try to get sufferers to find another way to give themselves an identity.

The program, called "Making Room," is not simply a clean-up, Reid said. She never tells anyone to throw things out. Instead, she tries to understand why the person wants to keep a particular item.

"It may involve me saying — 'Well, tell me about that paper. What does that mean to you?' — then talking and trying to help them kind of rethink what's important to them and what's not."

Apartment stuffed

"My stuff is all over my place," said Karen Blatchford, whose small Calgary apartment is crammed with plastic bags, paper, clothes, boxes and other items. "It lives in my place larger than I do."

While Blatchford loves to socialize, the senior never invites people over to her apartment .

"I don't want people to see [this]," Blatchford said.

When someone is hoarding, it can also mean they are struggling in isolation, Reid said.

"Some people will say, you know, 'One of my goals is I want to be able to have a friend over for dinner or I want to have a friend come for tea,' and they can't do it when their home is full of stuff. And you'll see that when you meet somebody who's hoarding that it's really difficult to do that. Sometimes there's nowhere to sit," she said.

Reid is working with Blatchford and other seniors to help them get rid of some of the items they have hoarded over the years.

"I don't need it," the senior said. "The only thing I can do is let it go."

Clutter a safety hazard

The Calgary Fire Department is concerned that clutter in a home can cause problems if there is an emergency.

"When we have a significant amount of clutter in a home, that's going to kind of ruin your chances of getting out of that home safely," department spokesman Jeff Budai said. "In addition to that, also it makes the job of a firefighter going in there very unsafe and obviously puts a little bit more of a block on it for us as well."

A large amount of clutter in a home can add to the fuel load, Budai added, which can lead to a bigger fire.