It was a simple gesture of kindness posted by a young business owner: an offer of free cleaning for people struggling with their mental health.
Marsa Arob said she just knew how much a helping hand could help someone push on.
But within 24 hours, the owner of Marsa's Cleaning Service in Melbourne had tears in her eyes from the overwhelming response she received.
Comments and messages were flooding in from dozens of people.
The posts on her work Instagram page normally received 30 likes each. This post received close to 2,000.
The offer was shared widely and people began messaging her their stories or thanking her for her kindness.
"It inspired me and it touched me."
Mental ill-health was nothing new to Ms Arob, who dealt with waves of depression since migrating here with her family from South Sudan in 2005.
Through the ups and downs, she said she understood how difficult it could be to get out of bed and keep up self care.
Keeping her space clean, she said, always helped her back on her feet.
The young cleaner became inspired to offer free services by Tik Tok user Aurikatariina, who was offering similar support in Finland.
"When my space is clean I feel like I can think better, I can do better, I can tackle my day a bit better, I can just have a bit more structure in my life," Ms Arob said.
"I wanted to give that to other people."
Perfect timing for some in the community
Helena Katsios knows how much having a clean house can help through tough times.
Her 83-year-old yiayia Helen Katsios had struggled with depression and anxiety for years since losing her husband to illness and her daughter to cancer.
Helena, 25, said one thing that always brought her grandmother pride was maintaining the cleanliness of her home at Reservoir in Melbourne's north.
But as she aged and her depression worsened, she no longer had the ability to clean.
For a while, the Melbourne pensioner received cleaning support through government services, but it was recently cut from her care package.
Helena knew her grandmother would struggle to afford cleaning and worried her yiayia's health would deteriorate, so Ms Arob was a godsend.
"It was just perfect timing," Helena said.
After a chat, Ms Arob agreed to offer free cleaning.
"It's going to be so much better, less stressful for me … It's just so kind for her to do."
The link between depression and cleaning
Melbourne psychologist Carly Dober said it was no surprise Ms Arob was inundated because struggling to clean during depressive episodes was "more common than people would think".
"More often than not, it is a key symptom or a behavioural or environmental sign someone is struggling," she said.
Common symptoms of depression include extreme fatigue, struggling to get out of bed and failure to complete daily tasks.
Similar symptoms can also be experienced by people with conditions like bipolar, anxiety and ADHD.
Cleaning the home can become an "insurmountable job" and embarrassment can cause people to retreat and suffer in silence, Ms Dober said.
Because of this, she said, many sufferers are misunderstood as lazy and disorganised and struggle to get the support they need.
"I always make the comparison that if someone has a broken leg, or they need to be on crutches or a wheelchair, people will rush to their support and try and support them with practical things," she said.
Ms Dober said struggling with cleaning could create a "vicious cycle" of further depressive feelings.
She said this common struggle was what made Ms Arob's idea "incredibly practical and kind".
"That afternoon or morning you spend might actually change their whole outlook their whole day, and really help them get through that week."
In Australia, cleaning support is one of the many services offered to people with mental health conditions who are on the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
But Ms Dober said support was not easy to access and for many Australians struggling to make ends meet, affording support services independently was not possible.
To bridge the gap, Ms Dober said family and friends of people experiencing depression could help by simply offering to do household tasks.
"Then you can say, 'I'm going to put some music on, I'm just going to, you know, do your washing for you'."
More help into the future
Ms Arob said she hoped her free cleaning would encourage others to help their community.
In the four weeks since making the offer, she became inundated with requests and had to pause taking on more free clients.
She has completed a number of free cleans and hopes to permanently continue offering a couple of cleans each month.
Since making her post, she has hired another cleaner to work alongside her for the first time.
Ms Arob said many people had messaged her to volunteer their time and she hoped to one day expand the service through crowdfunding.
"If you help someone who's down, that'll also make you feel better and it'll help you get through life."
