She's offering free cleanings to those who need them most all while educating people on the link between mental health and cleaning. Meet "Not the Worst Cleaner."
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Imagine this is your bedroom. You haven't slept in it in over 15 years.
00:04This is the home of a sweet older woman that is currently struggling mentally and physically.
00:07It's so much harder than you think to reach out for help.
00:10On most of my videos and my content, I get the comment a lot.
00:14All these people are just lazy. They don't care.
00:16They could just easily get up and clean.
00:19And I mean, the short answer is no, they can't.
00:21People don't want to live like that at the end of the day, but something is stopping them.
00:24Meet Brogan, aka Not The Worst Cleaner.
00:27Online, she's teaching her followers about the link between mental health and cleaning.
00:32Offline, she's a psychology student who's offering free cleanings to people who need them most.
00:37I feel like cleaning was such a taboo subject for a lot of people.
00:40It's something that we believe we should know how to do.
00:43It should come easily. It shouldn't be a big deal, but it's a huge deal for a lot of people.
00:49Right down to our brain chemistry, cleaning and clutter
00:52and living in environments like the ones that I clean can really, really affect people.
00:57Mental health does not discriminate.
00:59There's no rules stating you aren't allowed to battle depression, anxiety, bipolar, etc.
01:03And it doesn't make anyone any less deserving of help.
01:06Initially, she tried fundraising to get cleaning companies to help the
01:10hundreds of people reaching out online.
01:12But when costs became unsustainable, she decided to do it herself.
01:16When I had this woman reach out, I knew I had to do it.
01:20I have three small boys at home and this woman also had three small kids at home
01:25and they were the exact same age as my boys and they live in my area.
01:29She sent me photos and I thought I couldn't imagine my kids ever living in a state like that
01:33and how it must affect the children as well.
01:36So that was the first home I did and getting to see their reaction and the kids reaction.
01:41It was like a lightbulb moment for me.
01:43I knew that this was what I was meant to be doing.
01:45This was what I was going to be doing for a very long time.
01:49This free cleaning was definitely one that completely shattered my heart.
01:52This is an extreme hoarder case with a lot of mental health issues behind it,
01:55as it's very clear with the toilet paper hoarding.
01:57She had been using the toilet paper only to fold it up and place it in a pile to reuse.
02:02So if somebody has something like depression or even myself with ADHD,
02:05I'll go through these phases where everything just seems a little more overwhelming,
02:10even really simple tasks.
02:11And things like cleaning, it's not going to be the first thing you're
02:14going to want to do when you're not in the best headspace.
02:17It's something that can easily, you know, build up.
02:19So when it does start to build up,
02:21it becomes more overwhelming and people just don't know,
02:23you know, how to start tackling it.
02:25And that's when it grows to the state of the home that I clean.
02:28Whenever I go in for one of my free cleanings,
02:30I always do an initial walkthrough to analyze the main problem spots
02:33and figure out exactly where to start.
02:35Every home I go into is so different.
02:37And every homeowner is also different as well.
02:39Sometimes I'll go in and they will just say, you know,
02:41throw everything out.
02:42I don't care.
02:43I just want to clean space again.
02:45And then sometimes they will, you know,
02:46start saying don't touch anything on that wall.
02:48And don't touch anything on that wall.
02:50It all depends on the situation.
02:52But at the end of the day, I just want to make it livable for them
02:56and have them be comfortable.
02:57I want to make sure when I leave these free cleanings,
03:00they have everything they need to continue basic upkeep.
03:02And at the end of the day,
03:03they always know that I am here if they need me to ever come back.
03:06These folks are judging themselves so much themselves.
03:08They don't need any outside judgment.
03:11So I come towards it with a place of just compassion and love
03:16because I don't believe anybody should live like that.
03:18And I don't believe anybody should feel the way they do at the end of the day.
03:21It, you know, takes one or two days of my time to change their entire lives.