The model that became viral in networks cleaning the house of people with depression

Accumulated dishes, dirty clothes, food remains in the rooms, countless cockroaches and even larvae. These are some of the things that the Brazilian model, presenter and singer Ellen Milgrau found in the homes she visited in recent weeks.

She had gone there with one goal: to clean these houses to improve the quality of life for its residents, who are struggling with depression.

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Due to lack of encouragement, many of them had not been able to do the cleaning.

“Sometimes the person can’t even get up to take a shower. There are situations in which it is not even fair to call a cleaning lady because the dirt is very critical,” the model tells BBC News Brazil.

The cleaning she does in other people’s houses is part of a series of videos that the model began to share on her Instagram profile. TikTok in early March.

These publications went viral and accumulated more than 30 million reproductions only on this social network.

“He asked us for help”

Ellen says that the project, called CleaningMilgrauit is related to the cleaning habit that she has had since she was a child.

She believes that the place where one lives must be free of dirt so that everything is fine. “It seems that life only works when the house is clean,” she says.

The idea, says Milgrau, came about when he needed to help a depressed friend who was having trouble cleaning his own house.

“We used to say: let’s do an intervention, let’s get to his house with the brooms and everything. We were just talking, but there came a time when he really asked for help,” he says.

The model and her friend, the publicist Lua Rodrigues, decided to record the cleaning in a video on TikTok. For Milgrau, who is also a influencer, this served as a test of content that would actually please the public. She says that she was still evaluating the best way to use the video social network.

“I thought of some niches, like makeup, because I wanted to grow on TikTok. When we talked about recording cleaning, I thought: it’s content that I like and it can work,” explains Milgrau.

To make them, they were inspired by publications of the Finnish Auri Katariinawhich has become a worldwide phenomenon by cleaning the homes of people with mental health problems or other difficulties that prevent them from being able to clean the place where they live.

This is one of the houses the model cleaned as part of her project. (COURTESY ELLEN MILGRAU).

After the first cleaning, at his friend’s house, the publication was a complete success. In a few days it exceeded 2 million views.

The positive impact made the model continue with the videos. For her it was a way to do something that she likes, help other people and also make the public know her better.

“With this I can get out of my comfort zone and also show a side that many people don’t know about me. They think that because I’m a model I’m untouchable or I was born rich. Nothing like that,” says the young woman.

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Search for participants

After the repercussion of the first video, Milgrau and Rodrigues began looking for a second person who was in a similar situation.

Rodrigues advertised it in several places on the web until he found another case: a mother and daughter who lived together, suffered from depression and had a dirty house.

As the videos spread, Milgrau and Rodrigues began receiving numerous messages via email, Instagram and TiKTok from people asking for help.

To choose, theythey look at photos of the place and learn more about the history of the resident of the property.

“We can now identify who are those who are looking for us and really need our help,” says Milgrau.

Milgrau, Rodrigues and the volunteers Jady Carvalho and Fernanda Garroux in a cleanup day. (COURTESY ELLEN MILGRAU).

At first, the model and the publicist did the cleaning alone. Rodrigues rarely appears in the videos, as she is the one responsible for the recordings. Given the repercussion of the videos, they managed to volunteers to help them.

As this is an independent production, they can only take care of one house per week.

When she’s not cleaning houses, Milgrau pursues her modeling career or advertises for her social networks. “It’s not cleaning that we make money on, so we can’t live on that alone right now,” she says.

precarious situations

Four episodes have been posted on TikTok so far.

For Milgrau, the most striking story was the third case, in which a 21-year-old girl lived alone and suffered from severe depression.

“It was a very precarious situation. She was completely abandoned by her family after losing a loved one, she was without friends and living in São Paulo. That affected me a lot,” she says.

She says that the young I haven’t cleaned the house for 10 months. There was rubbish everywhere and many cockroaches.

“There was a moment, during the cleaning, when she [la joven de 21 años] she broke down, started crying, felt guilty and was so ashamed that we were doing this for her. But we explained to her and everything went well, she was very happy, “she explains in the video.

Another striking case for the model was the fourth episode: a mother who had lost custody of her daughter.

“When we saw the photos of the apartment, we thought: ‘the place is as dirty as we want’. But when we arrived, it was much worse. The smell was very strong. He had been without his daughter for three months, going through a depression and had a lot of dirt,” recalls the model.

The women in both episodes received free therapy through a psychologist who offered to help them.

Depression and everyday tasks

Just like the people you visit, Milgrau also suffers from depression. “I do treatment and I understand the difficulties these people face.”

Psychiatrist Higor Caldato explains that it is common for a person with depression not to be able to deal with the simplest tasks.

“One of the main symptoms of depression, in addition to sadness and irritability, is the loss of energy and the loss of pleasure in things,” he tells BBC News Brazil.

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“This means that many times people are unable to do the simplest daily tasks, such as household chores and also personal care tasks, such as bathing and exercising. And this isn’t because the person doesn’t want to, it’s because he can’t and doesn’t have the energy to do his activities,” he adds.

But he clarifies that not all people with depression will have these symptoms. “Today it is very common for us to perceive what we call functional depressionwhich is the patient who, despite being depressed, carries out their routine activities, but at the cost of a lot of effort, of a lot of suffering”, he says.

“There are many symptoms of depression that look like nonsense, like nonsense. The ideal is to seek specialized help. As they are emotional symptoms, people cannot identify them in blood tests, X-rays,” he explains.

In the case of those who cannot even clean their own house, the psychiatrist points out that clutter can worsen depressive symptoms. “This makes the person grow in the feeling of incapacity and further increases the feeling of powerlessness and inferiorityCaldato points out.

Cleaning the house, Milgrau says, is a small step in helping a person dealing with illness. “In the comments, many say: ‘ah, in a week everything will be like before’. But I think they can keep it [la limpieza] because this may be the boost they need to continue. After that, they can sleep better and even think better,” says the model.

The best example of how cleaning can help, he says, is his friend who participated in the first episode of the project.

“He keeps the house clean to this day and always sends us a photo to show us,” says Milgrau.

Source: Elcomercio