Contents restoration professionals regularly meet with homeowners who have just endured traumatic loss. That’s one of the most challenging parts of the job. It can also be one of the most rewarding.

In working alongside individuals and families who’ve had their lives upended by calamitous fire, flooding or other disasters, contents restoration professionals have a unique opportunity to provide more than just technical expertise. They have a chance to extend comfort, empathy and hope, walking alongside homeowners who are weathering intense crises. 

It’s by emphasizing that human side of their work that contents restoration professionals can prove most invaluable.

Expecting Anything

As restoration professionals enter a home for the first time, they must be ready for a wide range of emotional responses. After all, living through a natural disaster often qualifies as major trauma. In some cases, damage to an item of immense sentimental value can further trigger, perhaps reminding homeowners of other traumas they have experienced in their lives.

People respond to trauma in many ways, which means restoration professionals never know exactly what to expect. One homeowner may shrug and say, “It’s just things, and things can be replaced.” The next homeowner may feel as though their world is ending, a feeling that can manifest in the form of tears, rage or complete shock.

For restoration professionals, it’s important not only to anticipate a range of possible responses but also to remember that homeowners may be dealing with multiple exacerbating factors. Losing personal property to flood or fire is harrowing enough, yet the aftermath may entail several other financial anxieties, insecurities or frustrations with the insurance claims process. That’s to say nothing of homeowners who may be experiencing medical problems or personal and relational crises, compounding their turmoil.

What can Contents Restoration Professionals do?

Understanding that homeowners may be experiencing a complicated web of negative emotions, what are some practical steps that contents restoration professionals can take to extend comfort and care?

While restoration professionals don’t have the power to resolve all the underlying conditions that cause these negative emotions, there is much they can do to provide stability and reassurance amidst a tumultuous season.

Photo credit: Blue Kangaroo Packoutz

• Providing clear documentation. Not knowing where their prized possessions are can cause homeowners to feel insecure. Contents restoration professionals can give them greater confidence, walking them through their systems for inventorying, tagging and documenting all assets. Those who use digital inventory technology can respond to homeowner inquiries promptly, letting them know exactly where their items are being stored—right down to the box number. This can be an important gesture of assurance, and a way for homeowners to know their property is truly being cared for.
• Mediating conversations with insurance adjusters. For homeowners coping with significant loss, ongoing conversations with insurance adjusters can be an added form of stress. This is especially true when the homeowner feels like the adjuster is not sufficiently responsive or cooperative. Contents restoration professionals can coach their clients as they call their adjuster, providing advocacy and support based on their own place within the industry. Additionally, they can equip homeowners with the right language to use to ensure the best outcomes from their insurance claims process.
• Training employees to demonstrate empathy. Ultimately, every employee who works for a contents restoration team should receive training, ensuring they are fully prepared to demonstrate a compassionate demeanor. This may simply mean helping employees to see things from the homeowner’s perspective and reminding them again and again not to take it personally when homeowners seem short-tempered or grumpy.

Photo credit: Blue Kangaroo Packoutz

Empathy in Action

By being mindful of the opportunities, they have each day to extend hope and healing, contents restoration professionals can make a real difference in the lives of homeowners. Sometimes, this may happen in surprising and creative ways.

Consider an example from our own experience in contents restoration. One homeowner I met had sustained unimaginable damage to her personal assets as a result of significant flooding, mold and rodent infestation. Among the damaged assets were a vibrant collection of linens which her late mother had collected over a span of many years, from countries around the world.

The thought that these linens might be lost forever was deeply traumatizing, reopening the homeowner’s grief over her mother’s passing. But while the linens themselves could not be fully restored—mice had left gaping holes throughout—there was enough salvageable material that these precious pieces of cloth could be quilted together into colorful wall hangings. I happen to love quilting, and my client was thrilled by this creative avenue for honoring her mother, even amidst traumatic loss.

Not every contents restoration professional will be experienced in quilting, but all can look for creative ways to show homeowners that they care. In our line of work, nothing could be more meaningful.