Residential Organizer | Presenter | Hoarding Consultant
Leslie Hatch Gail, PhD, uses sensitivity, patience, and a dose of wit and whimsy to help families reduce stress and take back control. She recognizes her clients are the experts and ultimate authority in their own life processes and works with them to create organizing systems to meet their unique needs. A sensitive and gifted lifelong learner, Leslie values interpersonal relationships and solves problems using a strength-based approach.
Owner and founder of Declare Order Professional Organizing, Leslie was born to teach! Clients benefit from Leslie’s previous experience as an Early Childhood Special Education teacher and Before and After School Program Director. She organized students for learning and fun, while also coming up with systems to store toys and curriculum materials when not in use.
Leslie leads in-person and virtual programs for audiences interested in learning more about organizing and decluttering. She recently presented, “Shift Your Mindset: Tapping into Client Strengths” to professional colleagues at NAPO’s annual conference, “Educate. Elevate. Celebrate!” Leslie encouraged attendees to identify asset-based approaches for clients living with challenges that impact organization and productivity in activities of daily living.
In late 2016, Leslie began learning more about supporting marginalized communities. This passion led her to the field of Community Psychology. Leslie’s research about community responses to hoarding connected her to conversations about defining successful outcomes for people living with hoarding challenges and how to support children and adult children who grow up in hoarded conditions. Her recent dissertation, “Factors Influencing Community Responses to Hoarding: Evaluating Operational Culture of Hoarding Task Forces, Stigma, and Successful Outcomes” is publicly available via this link: https://digitalcommons.nl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1729&context=diss
Following a strategic life theme of “Ready…Fire…Aim,” Leslie signed up for TikTok and began posting. Users appreciated her fresh takes and kind face and she, quite accidentally, amassed 190,000 followers! Leslie posts regular content, teaching about conscious consumerism and challenging the notion that “Instagram-worthy” equals “organized.” She illustrates the differences between “organizing” and “styling” and makes videos inside her local Target to teach how to resist impulse purchases. The content is light-hearted and all in good fun so if you aren’t ready to hire an organizer, join Leslie over on TikTok @declareorder and enjoy some free advice.
Hoarding: Are you a fan of “those hoarding shows” on tv? Leslie had the privilege of working with fellow NAPO Chicago organizers on an episode of A&E’s, Hoarders, “Beverly/Megan,” and two episodes of TLC’s, Hoarding: Buried Alive. She shared lunch on set with Geralin Thomas in a backyard storage shed and learned how to wear a hazmat suit. Leslie now understands that although the shows raise awareness, they are exploitative and promote misinformation.
Expertise: The goal of Expertise.com is to connect people with the best local experts. They score businesses across the following five categories: Reputation, Credibility, Experience, Availability, and Professionalism. Over the past six years, they have looked at nearly 600 organizers serving the Chicago area and picked the top providers. Declare Order Professional Organizing has been on their list for six years in a row!
