| The Shulman Center on the move and in the news… May 1, 2013–Mr. Shulman has penned the “Foreword” for upcoming book Shoplifters: Are They Out of Control? by California forensic psychologist John C. Brady. May 13, 2013–Mr. Shulman is quoted in an article on hoarding disorder in the Sarasota, FL Herald Tribune. See: Hoarding June 4, 2013–Mr. Shulman will deliver a presentation on hoarding disorder to Bloomfield Township (Michigan) Senior Services. June 18. 2013–Mr. Shulman will deliver a presentation on hoarding disorder to JARC (Jewish Association for Residential Care) in Southfield, Michigan. July 2013–Mr. Shulman will have an article about honesty in the workplace in the Jack Hayes International quarterly newsletter. July 20, 2013–Mr. Shulman will deliver a presentation on hoarding disorder at the Commerce (Michigan) Public Library. October 4, 2013–Mr. Shulman will be have a booth at the Annual Royal Oak, MI Health Fair. October 7-9, 2013–Mr. Shulman will be presenting on employee theft at The 3rd Annual Lifestyle Intervention Conference in Las Vegas, NV. October 25 and October 27, 2013–Mr. Shulman will be presenting 2 all-day seminars on compulsive theft, spending and hoarding at Jewish Family Services in West Bloomfield, MI. |
| Florida Hoarder is Just The Tip of a National Problem Excerpts of May article by Bill Cox in Sarasota Herald Tribune: See: Hoarding Article BRADENTON – Inside an ordinary two-bedroom house in an ordinary neighborhood adjacent to Manatee High School, two sisters are about to come face-to-face with their late mother’s insanity as television production cameras roll. “Oh, easily a 10 – the worst I’ve ever seen,” recalls Jeremy Geiger when asked to rate the size of the challenge. “The TV show didn’t do it justice because you couldn’t smell it.” Cheryl and Aimee are prepared for the worst; they have been briefed about Mom’s problems by their younger brother, Jimmy. And yet, when the door opens, words fail. They enter a wasteland of knee-high filth and garbage, wall-to-wall floors of compacted mold-blackened newspapers, feces, plastic containers and old boxes, where rats frolic about the crusted lavatory and toilet. Younger sister Aimee breaks out in sobs and bolts outdoors to keep from gagging. “Oh my god!” she moans. “How did she live like this?” This clip from TLC’s ongoing reality series “Hoarding: Buried Alive” was taped last fall and aired nationally in February. But it could have been anywhere and – according to a Bradenton cleanup man charged with getting rid of the mess – is likely repeating itself in your own neighborhood. On Friday, in a concession to the unique and persistent nature of this psychological phenomenon, “compulsive hoarding” will rate its own separate clinical category in the upcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Previously, it was considered a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder. “Since the (‘Hoarding’) show started airing three years ago, people have been coming out of the woodwork,” says show consultant and psychologist Rebecca Beaton, founder of The Anxiety and Stress Management Institute outside Atlanta. “The incidence range is put at three to five percent of the population, but from what I’ve seen, I’m inclined to lean toward the higher figure.” Counting maybe 15 million Americans on the high end, the disorder is so stigmatizing that a national Hoarders Anonymous organization has formed in response. In order to shine a light on the debilitating condition, TLC’s “Hoarding” offers to help sanitize the homes of afflicted families in exchange for documentation. Last names are withheld for privacy considerations, says TLC’s Nicole Bamber. ‘Worst I’ve ever seen’ The Bradenton case came to “Hoarding’s” attention shortly after the mother, Cynthia, died in 2012 from lung cancer at 65. Her daughters, who live in Oklahoma, remember their mother as an abusive alcoholic. But Mom’s 26-year-old son Jimmy – their junior by nearly two decades – lived with Cynthia until shortly before her death last March. By then, Mom had long since replaced alcohol with clutter. The family contacted “Hoarding” after being overwhelmed by the magnitude of the disarray. “It was a family secret, and Jimmy wasn’t allowed to talk about it,” daughter Cheryl told the Herald-Tribune. “He finally told me about it when he came to visit me in 2009. He’d lived in those conditions so long he thought it was normal.” Mom had told the family her home was paid off and that the mortgage papers were stashed away somewhere inside the house. The bank disagreed and began foreclosure proceedings. “Hoarding” even contacted a psychic in an effort to find paperwork that ultimately proved non-existent. The show also hired Jeremy Geiger to haul Cynthia’s junk away. “Oh, easily a 10 – the worst I’ve ever seen,” recalls Geiger when asked to rate the size of the challenge. “The TV show didn’t do it justice because you couldn’t smell it.” A veteran Manatee County Sheriff’s deputy, the 42-year-old father of two has plenty of experience cleaning up after compulsive hoarders. His own uncle – a loner whose body was discovered in his home a week after he died – was a hoarder. Geiger formed a cleaning business, Haul-Away of the Suncoast Inc., shortly after having to scrub down the dispiriting aftermath. Today, with the assistance of a Bobcat loader and a 22-cubic-yard capacity dump truck, Geiger works outdoor and indoor jobs, 25 percent of which are residential. Of those, maybe 10 percent involve hoarders. Employing day laborers using snow shovels and rakes, Geiger says he cleared six tons of ruined furniture and “tightly compacted” trash – roughly three feet deep – from the approximately 1,100-square-foot “Hoarding” house over a two-day span. Geiger says the TLC producers insisted he and his crew wear hazmat suits to complete the job. But he says the most effective precautions when approaching hoarder houses are gloves, goggles and respirators, which insulate cleaners against airborne contaminants, like hantavirus. Spraying down the interiors with water to reduce dust is Geiger’s preferred first step. By the time Geiger reaches a hoarder residence, saving the house can be a lost cause. Toxic mold can often be traced to bad plumbing, leaky roofing and other forms of neglect, which tend to wreak permanent structural damage. Getting help The secrecy exhibited by most hoarders suggest they know their lifestyle is dysfunctional. “I had a friend whose mother-in-law didn’t let anyone in her house for 20-something years,” Geiger says. “It’s hard to believe, but there was always an excuse to meet somewhere else; even her own daughter had no idea.” Social worker and attorney Terry Shulman formed Hoarders Anonymous in Michigan four years ago and says most have undiagnosed issues with grief, loss or trauma. Many are paralyzed over fears of making a mistake and tossing out something they think could prove valuable, especially in hard times. “It fluctuates with the economy and monetary stress, and as wages go down, they equate stuff with cash,” Shulman says. “Stuff is currency to them. And it’s getting worse with global access to wealth and credit in places like China, India, Russia and South America.” Doctors divide compulsive hoarding into five categories, with 5 being the worst, Shulman says. “But even a level 2 or 3 can cause health issues, accidents, fires, mold, eviction, divorce, even children can be taken away because of neglect.” Adds “Hoarding” consultant Beaton: “If you think about it, the stuff they acquire and pile up are literal barricades between them and the rest of the world.” For Cheryl, who suspects the biohazards in her mother’s Bradenton home played a key role in her fatal lung cancer, agreeing to subject her family’s shame to national scrutiny was not simply about getting financial assistance to clean up the mess. “If you know somebody who’s a hoarder, don’t wait,” Cheryl says. “Get some help. It’s not going to get any better.” For more information about compulsive hoarding, contact Hoarders Anonymous at 248-358-8508 or go to www.theshulmancenter.com COUPLES NEED TO TALK ABOUT MONEY AND DEBTBEFORE AND AFTER MARRIAGE! Excerpts from May article by Detroit Free Press’s Susan Tompor: See: Money and Debt Ashley Matusz and Joe Fisher, both 24, talked about cutting $800 off the flower bill for their wedding reception and saving another $1,000 by forgoing flowers at the church. But the really big budgeting headaches will hit after their June 15 wedding. Ashley, in Wayne State University’s medical school, is expecting $130,000 in student loans. Many young couples are dealing with delicate conversations about debt, such as student loans, credit cards or other debt – or they should be having those discussions this wedding season, financial experts say. It’s best to come clean before saying “I do” when it comes to what some call the anti-dowry – or when you bring debt to the marriage. Some financial advisers suggest “money dates” instead of movie dates to discuss debt, and they say the most important number is not how many exes you have, but what your credit scores are. If you’re going to take someone for richer or poorer, it’s far better to know particulars up front. Shoot, if you can tell someone about your old flames, why not come clean and disclose your credit score, too? A low credit score is going to drive up the price of taking out a loan to buy a new car or a home. “Ever since the beginning, I was like, ‘You know I’m going to have a lot of debt,’ ” said Matusz, who told Fisher about her plans when they started dating a little more than two years ago. She has completed her first year of medical school. The couple say they’ve been careful not to overspend while dating, too. Fisher cooks a lot of “date night” meals instead of going out, Matusz said. Neither has credit card debt. Couples need to share that credit report information with each other to get a plan going to tackle any problems. “I see it as both of our debt, not just hers,” said Fisher, who works as a market research analyst for the Paul’s TV retail chain in Warren. Heavy debt out of college About two-thirds of college grads in the Class of 2013 will leave with some student loan debt. The average debt is about $28,000. Everyday life, of course, comes with its own set of bills. Matusz and Fisher will pay rent of about $850 a month for a 625-square-foot apartment in Midtown. They may need to spend $5,000 on a Ford Focus that’s coming off lease and trade in Fisher’s 2006 Saturn Vue, which has 158,000 miles. They’re not considering buying a house yet because they don’t know where they’d want to live when Matusz gets out of medical school. “Sometimes, to be flexible, the best thing is not to buy a home,” said Titus, the financial adviser. But what will all those student loans end up costing? Matusz isn’t certain how much her monthly payments will be. She has borrowed $60,000 so far for the first two years of medical school and expects to borrow another $70,000. She knows the rate is 6.8%. Fisher makes about $45,000 a year, and they plan to live on his paycheck, not borrow more for living expenses through student loans, as some graduate students do. So what’s the plan? For some couples, a heavy student debt load has meant postponing marriage. About 7% of adults who took out college loans said they delayed getting married or starting a family because of their need to pay back the debt, according to a 2011 Pew Research study. Lauren Locker, a certified financial planner and chairwoman of the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors, said anyone who is getting married needs to discuss how they’re going to deal with debt. The average wedding costs $28,400 – close to the average amount of student loan debt. If couples borrow for the wedding and one has the average amount of student loans, they could be $56,000 in debt before they share the first slice of wedding cake. For many young couples, she said, expectations for how much money one can make or how well one can live are not in line with real life. She blames the beautiful lifestyles often shown in the news media. Most of the country cannot afford to live like that without going too deep into debt. “The biggest issue that happens, and honestly, it doesn’t make a difference if you’re 22 or 42, people don’t want to talk about money. It’s distasteful,” Locker said. She recommends that couples don’t merge all of their money into one account. It’s too convenient to put all the responsibility and bills on one person. Both need to work out the budget and how bills will be paid. If one person makes $30,000 and another makes $80,000 a year, you don’t split the rent bill in half, she said. Even more key, she said, couples have to ask: What’s the plan? What’s the goal and strategy for paying off debt? “They have to make a plan. What are you going to sacrifice to get out of that debt?” said Locker, who founded Locker Financial Services in Little Falls, N.J. “It doesn’t go away.” Ways to start talking about money as a couple: ■ Trying to get out of debt? Run some numbers via a free, nonprofit website to review plans for paying off debt. Seewww.powerpay.org. ■ Consumers can find articles on financial literacy and money management, as well as find a certified public accountant in Michigan, at www.michcpa.org. Or see www.findacpapfs.org. ■ Fee-only financial planners can be found at www.napfa.org. ■ The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau offers information online about taking out student loans and repaying them after graduation. The site also can help you figure out what kind of student loans you have already. Or see www.studentaid.gov. ABC’s 20/20 Airs Segment on Office Supply Theft The following is a transcript from the 5-minute ABC segment: See video at : Office Theft Admit it you probably made off with some of those tempting goodies in the office supply closet. After all an estimated 75% of us and steal from the office. The most popular items post it notes tape scissors and those highlight. There’s no real harm, right? Well, some might not agree. There’s very little flexibility for office theft–stealing is stealing. It turns out employees’ sticky fingers cost companies over $30 Billion a year. Every item stolen has value and costs money so office theft can make a real dent. Firms are now cracking down big time by hiring investigators to monitor their employees, even installing surveillance cameras to sniff out workplace theft. Putting cameras everywhere is not illegal and often increases the opportunity to determine if someone is stealing from the office. For example, office pantry food theft is very common. In one case, someone was taking cartons of milk and boxes of coffee. The solution: one company installed the phony security cameras and the problem went away. Even a Texas police officer got nailed while raiding his break area refrigerator and the price of getting caught red-handed was a thirty day unpaid suspension and obvious embarrassment. Then there was the case of aColorado woman who was fired from the hospital where she worked after she was caught helping herself to office rolls of toilet paper for her personal use. Humiliated, she claimed she was donating the toilet paper to a war veterans group. Her boss didn’t buy that. In reality, there’s never a good reason to steal. Psychotherapist Robbie Ludwick has treated office theft issues and says people often look at office theft as a harmless way to get back at the the company or its policies or practices, such as you’re not appreciated enough for who you are or you’re not getting paid enough. Of course, pocketing a few highlighters is one thing, but some take office theft to a whole new level. A mild mannered employee, a respected New York cancer hospital worker seemed to turn into a John Dillinger; now he’s hoping he doesn’t get a criminal record–which can make it harder to get a job. Marcus Gums says his life of crime began the day a stranger approached him with a curious proposition: order expensive printer toner cartridges on and then sell them to him right out the back door–diving head first into what authorities say was a thriving black market in bootleg printer toner. Believe it or not, this stuff is so lucrative it’s been called black gold. In fact, just one of these can cost hundreds of dollars. Middlemen sell the stolen cartridges at cut rate prices–often online. It all adds up to big time profits. Over two and a half years, Gum sold one and a half million dollars of stolen office supplies. He spent the money on fancy clothes, a ritzy apartment, a new truck, a Range Rover, and trips to Cancun, Mexico and the Bahamas. He admits it was unbelievable and very exciting. One Office Depot employee–Mark Alexander–made off with over a half million dollars of printer toners. He was caught on camera using a forklift to deliver a crate to an accomplice. Alexander got a sixteen month jail sentence. Gums was busted after making a fatal mistake. The hospital realized he was ordering toner cartridge for printer models that we’re no longer in use. Gums was convicted of grand larceny. After eighteen months behind bars, he’s now out on parole. “I want to apologize to the hospital and others I hurt,” he said. Who was disappointed most? “My mom, because she didn’t bring me up like this. I want to make everybody happy. It just wasn’t worth it in the end.” So. workers of the world, think twice before pilfering that sandwich: you may just be heading down a slippery slope.” Winona Ryder Says Shoplifting Arrest “Best Thing” Winona Ryder recently opened up about her 2001 shoplifting arrest in a new interview… Ryder, 41, says the brush with the law forced her to take a much-needed break from acting. The Heathers actress, who’s currently starring in a new film The Iceman, was arrested shoplifting clothing at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills in December 2001. In a discussion with Interview magazine, she explains that she was headed down the wrong path for a long time, struggling with the perception that people had of her. “That thing that happened,” she explains, “I was starting to have some trouble before that. I think a lot of people think that that is what sort of sent me off in another direction, but I was actually starting to have some trouble a few years before.” She said a subsequent lack of job offers forced her to take time off from acting, which she’d never considered previously. “I did come up against what felt like a wall,” she admits. “And with what happened…I was living up in San Francisco and I really needed the time off, which ended up being a couple of years. “In a weird way, it was almost like the best thing that could have happened because I’d never asked myself the question before of, ‘Is it okay if I’m not going to act? Is there anything else?’ because that was all that I really knew.” She said she began to focus on other interests. “There were all of these very interesting paths in life that I could explore – so I started to do that. And then what happens is that you throw yourself into something else and you say, ‘Oh my god, this other thing is what I want to do.’ But then some time goes by and, for me, it was this realization that I still love acting – and that I still wanted to do it.” After getting “that perspective on life,” Ryder was ready to return to Hollywood. “There was a foundation that I had early on, but I think I lost my footing – you know, obviously,” she said. “But then I sort of regained it.” Americans Fed Up with Frugality? Excerpts from an article by Amy Langfeld, NBC News See: Frugality Americans seem to be fed up with frugality. As the recession ever so slowly recedes, an increasing number of Americans say they are less frugal than they were a few years ago. At the same time, sales at restaurants are at an all-time high and at least one survey says consumers expect to spend more eating out as soon as their pocketbooks allow. Sales at eating and drinking places in April reached $45.9 billion, a $200 million seasonally-adjusted increase from the previous high in December 2012, according to preliminary figures from the U.S. Census Bureau. “Last month was a shock,” said Ryan Lowder, the chef and owner of the Copper Onion in Salt Lake City, where his sales were up 20 % over April of 2012. “The increase last month was killer. I’m not complaining.” Lowder said some of April’s boost was likely due to better weather in Utah, but he’s also seen a trend in more spending overall, especially on alcohol. “We sell a $40 pinot and $60 bottle of Pinot. We’re selling more of the $60 Pinot. We’re seeing an increase,” he told NBC News. The Copper Onion was not alone in posting great numbers for April. “After totaling nearly $45.7 billion in December, eating and drinking place sales were dampened somewhat during the first three months of 2013, likely due in part to the impact of the payroll tax hike,” the National Restaurant Association’s Chief Economist Bruce Grindy wrote in his analysis of the numbers. Sales have steadily increased since dipping to $45.2 billion in February. Those numbers are expected to continue rising, according the restaurant group’s own survey. In all, 49% of adults said they were not eating in restaurants as often as they would like, according to a national survey of 1,000 adults conducted April 25 to 28 for the National RA by ORC International. Women were more likely than men (54% vs. 44%) to want to dine out more often. “These new survey results suggest that once consumers are feeling more confident about their personal financial situation, they will be primed to burn off some of their accumulated pent-up demand for restaurants,” Grindy wrote. The restaurant numbers arrive at the same time consumers tell Gallup they are less frugal than they were a few years ago. Only 41% of Americans now say they are “spending less money,” compared with 57% in 2010, according to Gallup’s annual Economy and Personal Finance survey, which was conducted April 4 to 14. In addition, 26% of Americans surveyed in April said they are spending more money than before, and 32% said it’s about the same. However, many of the Americans who are spending less say it’s their new normal. That’s especially true for individuals closest to retirement age. About 46 % of people in the 50- to 64-years-old, baby-boom age bracket say they are spending less. It’s the bracket of 18- to 29-year old consumers that are most likely to open their wallets these day, with 33% telling Gallup they are spending more money than before. Honesty is its own reward.–Anonymous Walk in peace.The Shulman Center 2013 Events Calendar Ongoing … The Baton Rouge, Louisiana court system has a court-ordered, facilitated educational program for retail fraud offenders. The program is based on material from Mr. Shulman’s book Something for Nothing: Shoplifting Addiction and Recovery. Mr. Shulman created a 1-hour employee theft online course with360 Training. Learn why people steal from their jobs, how to deter it, prevent it, and what to do when confronted with it. Enroll at: http://theshulmancenter.360training.com Mr. Shulman created an online continuing education course on compulsive shopping and spending called Bought Out and $pent! based on his book and Power Point presentation. The course, CEs offered, through The American Psychotherapy Association. at: http://www.americanpsychotherapy.com |
| RESOURCES OF NOTE… START YOUR NEW YEAR with MONEY LIFE-COACHING!Tom Lietaert of Sacred Odyssey and the Intimacy with Money programs offers individual money coaching as well as various group workshops on money. Check out Tom’s two websites at:www.sacredodyssey.com / www.intimacywithmoney.com CONSULTING AND EDUCATION ON FRAUDGary Zeune of Columbus, Ohio has been a friend and colleague of mine for nearly two years. He has been a consultant and teacher on fraud discovery and prevention for nearly 30 years. He is interviewed in my book Cluttered Lives, Empty Souls: Compulsive Theft, Spending & Hoarding. I recently saw Gary in action recently when he presented an all-day on fraud to metro-Detroit accountants. www.theprosandthecons.com THE SHULMAN CENTER THERAPIST TRAINING PROGRAM! If you’re a therapist and wish to be trained & certified in the assessment/treatment of compulsive theft, spending and/or hoarding, CONTACT THE SHULMAN CENTER NOW! See:http://www.theshulmancenter.com/counselor-training.html THE FLY LADY ASSISTS WITH CLEANING & DECLUTTERING I recently was told about a website resource that lists strategies for cleaning and de-cluttering and sells various books and products that help with this; so, I’m passing it along… See:http://www.flylady.net Mr. Shulman’s booksavailable for purchase now! Click here to shop amazon.com Something for Nothing: Shoplifting Addiction and Recovery (2003) See also:www.somethingfornothingbook.com Biting The Hand That Feeds:The Employee Theft Epidemic… New Perspectives, New Solutions (2005) See also: www.bitingthehandthatfeeds.com Bought Out and $pent! Recovery from Compulsive $hopping/$pending (2008) See also: www.boughtoutandspent.com Cluttered Lives, Empty Souls: Compulsive Stealing, Spending and Hoarding (2011) See also: www.clutteredlives.com Contact The Shulman Center: Terrence Daryl Shulman, JD, LMSW, ACSW, CAADC, CPC Founder/Director, The Shulman Center for Compulsive Theft, Spending & Hoarding P.O. Box 250008 Franklin, Michigan 48025 E-mail: terrenceshulman@theshulmancenter.com Call (248) 358-8508 for a free consultation!Our Web Sites:The Shulman CenterShoplifting AddictionsKleptomaniacs AnonymousSomething For NothingShopping Addictions Shopaholics AnonymousBought Out and Spent Employee Theft SolutionsBiting the Hand that FeedsHoarding TherapyHoarders AnonymousTerrence Shulman Books by Terrence Shulman: Something for Nothing:Shoplifting Addiction and RecoveryBiting The Hand That Feeds:The Employee Theft EpidemicBought Out and $pent! Recovery from Compulsive $hopping and $pendingCluttered Lives Empty Souls: Compulsive Stealing, Spending and Hoarding All book are available for $25.00 each (includes shipping and handling). Click here to purchase |
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