Nurse opens communal wardrobe for mental health patients

ABC NEWS (Australia)

For many of us these days, getting a new wardrobe is only a few clicks away. But not everyone has easy access to clothes. A program in Sydney has been changing that, helping mental health patients get the attire they need while feeling good about how they look. Now it's expanding into regional New South Wales for the first time.

Transcript

00:00When Troy Kavanagh was admitted to hospital for his mental health a few years ago, all

00:07he had was the clothes on his back and a small bag of essentials.

00:13That was until his nurse, Keith Donnelly, showed him through a boutique walk-in wardrobe

00:18in a section of the Prince of Wales Hospital.

00:20Clothing is a necessity and if you don't at that time have an outside source, well, you

00:27were struggling for clothes, so that's why Keith's Closet is brilliant.

00:32It's now teeming with second hand donations, all sorted at this volunteer run warehouse.

00:38And that can happen at the start of admission, it can happen in the middle, it can happen

00:42on discharge, whatever time they would like to access beautiful new and as good as new

00:48clothes, the service is there for them.

00:51The idea was conjured by Mr Donnelly himself, after noticing a lack of basic necessities

00:56for patients at hospitals in Ireland and Australia.

01:00In its first six years, the program has made a real impact across Greater Sydney.

01:04The feeling that when you picked something you liked, you could wear it, it made you feel

01:09better.

01:10Yeah, I admire what he's done.

01:12This week, the state health minister and local MP unveiled the first regional closet at

01:17Shell Harbour Hospital.

01:18The former office space now features rows of stock shelves, mirrors and hand-painted affirmations.

01:24What Keith Donnelly has done here is added another layer of support to those people.

01:30If anyone wants an old suit from a politician, I'm sure it'll be the last thing that gets

01:36borrowed or picked up.

01:37Helping the vulnerable, one outfit at a time.

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