Nurse Keith Donnelly opens communal wardrobe for hospital mental health patients

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Mental health nurse Keith Donnelly has opened a walk-in wardrobe for patients to access at a south coast hospital. Through his work, Mr Donnelly has seen a lack of basic necessities for mental health patients and was determined to change that.

Transcript

00:00I was trying to fix a very obvious problem like that. Many of our patients used to come

00:06into hospital with just the clothes on their back. A hospital stay might be anything from

00:11a week to 18 months and above. So during that time, the only suitable wear light that people

00:17would have might be a hospital white gown.

00:20A hospital admission is usually kind of a planned event. How is it that people walk

00:25into a mental health facility and don't have that infrastructure or a family around them?

00:30Funny enough, it's often very much an unplanned event, admission into a mental health setting.

00:36The units that I've been working in for a number of years, we have our patients come in often

00:41involuntary, sort of held against their own will under the Mental Health Act at that time.

00:47And that's to just really assess their mental health initially and also to apply and give

00:52whatever treatment is necessary. So they don't have time to pack a bag.

00:56So you provide not only clothes, but toiletries, shoes, accessories as well.

01:01And you allow people to pick these items for themselves. Tell me about the decision to do

01:06that because that's a really interesting thing in terms of offering dignity to someone

01:10who is perhaps being held against their will.

01:13Absolutely. Look, we're all about choice. We all love choice.

01:17For someone going into a mental health setting, it was often a way that we'd be rooting around

01:21as nurses to try and find some item of clothing, some tracksuit pants, some t-shirt.

01:26So this was ongoing. This was an issue back in Ireland as well.

01:29So when I came to Australia in 2016, I was quite surprised that this was much an issue here.

01:35We went on a mission just to set up this beautiful room that would be like a one-on-one shopping

01:40experience for people to go in and choose whatever their fashion is, whatever their size.

01:46I don't want to choose anybody else's clothing, nor do I want them to choose mine.

01:50So that's the area of focus that we really had.

01:54And during the visit, it's a time to just engage with that person as a human being,

02:00see how they're going, see what hobbies they enjoy.

02:04So everything mental illness, the reason they're in there stops at the door and you're just

02:09engaged in this amazing experience.

02:11What have you learned about people in that moment of crisis when you see them,

02:16you know, receiving this care and these options and this act of dignity?

02:21What does it do for them mentally?

02:22It's just, it's so uplifting. The very, very first time I offered a guy in Ireland a fresh set of

02:30outfit that I had at home. I had some clothes I'd never worn. Some are brand new, some not so new,

02:36but as good as new. It was just instant. The change in his self-esteem, his dignity, his confidence

02:43was very, very obvious. And he'd smiled for the first time in quite some time. He told me that he

02:49he didn't have a change of clothes for so long. He didn't have family anymore. He didn't have friends

02:55because that's what it leads to severe mental illness, leads to isolation and loneliness in many cases.

03:01And does that have a long-term impact then once they sort of get a fresh set of clothes, they smile

03:06on their face and they can engage with someone like you? What long-term effect does that have?

03:12Long-term effect is questionable because like us, we get a new outfit, we get some new clothes,

03:19it's great for the first few weeks to wear, then it's not so new anymore. But what we're trying to do

03:24with Keith's Closet is not only clothes anymore. We have our warehouse space down in Alexandria now

03:30where we're inviting our clients down to actually volunteer to be part of our organisation and give

03:37them purpose and really give the steering wheel over to them and say, let's go guys. What do we need

03:43to make you attend here every day and workshops and really give them that focus that will be long-term

03:50and give them the skills to live a life? Absolutely. Yeah, I know you rated your own wardrobe to get

03:56this off the ground. It's not easy starting up a charitable startup, but you have got buy-in now

04:02from government, from business. Tell us about how you've got them on board. Yeah, look, some email

04:06arrived in my inbox last year and it was an invitation to a cabinet community meeting. Of course, they didn't

04:13know much about it. I'm a mental health nurse, it's not really my area. So I went back to my board and say,

04:18look guys, we have this invitation here that we can attend and we've got to have access to all the

04:23ministers in New South Wales. What do we think? So the guys thought, this is a great opportunity, Keith.

04:28Let's talk to the mental health minister, Rose Jackson, who had met a couple of times already,

04:33who's an amazing lady. And we got the opportunity then to meet Minister Ryan Park, the health minister,

04:38for the very first time. And it was at that meeting, it felt like I knew Ryan already 20 years. He was so engaged,

04:46he was so excited with the whole concept that we were bringing this into hospitals. And at that point,

04:53he said, look, I want to know what I can do for you. So we went back to the table. We worked out

04:59like a bit of a plan. We returned to Ryan and Ryan did what he said he'd do and he supported us with

05:05a grant of $185,000. And you've got business donating as well? We have indeed. So we've got

05:11some clothing companies, we're building up our partnerships now. So the Rappers 1 and Swiss Re,

05:17are two of our biggest partnerships at the moment, with lots of organisations locally,

05:23in Ramek and the city. So this is something that we really, really want to build on as well.

05:27What do you get out of doing this? Satisfaction. I haven't stopped smiling since 2019. I just see

05:34the reaction and the difference that it's not only me, I might add too. We've got an amazing operations

05:41manager now, Grace Wilson. We have our board, we have our volunteers who are absolutely worth

05:47a waiting goal. For me, it's just great to see changing lives and we haven't even started yet.

05:53Keith, a very quick question around the state of mental health care in Australia right now.

05:58We know there's a huge demand. Services are under strain. What's your view from the inside?

06:03It is. Look, it's a very tough job. It's not for the faint-hearted, but I have to say,

06:10we're trying our best. We're all trying our best. It's such a complex area. It's such a

06:17multi-faceted area, like for people's mental illness, that it's, you're just not treating

06:22mental illness. You're treating about nine or ten different areas all at the same time,

06:28and it's just hard to get in on top of one thing to make a difference. So it's work in progress,

06:34and always will be, but we're always achieving for the very, very best.

06:38Keith Donnelly, you're quite the entrepreneur. Congratulations and thanks for coming in.

06:41Thank you very much.

Category

Transcript

Recommended