Cosmetologists get training to deal with clients' domestic violence

By Marie Christensen

April 6, 2006 | During a one-hour hair appointment, cosmetologist Mandy Blauer gets to know her clients pretty well. From recent births to struggles in relationships, sometimes she hears it all.

"You get to know their family and you know the problems that their other family members are having," Blauer said. "Some of them get down to the nitty gritty."

Although these conversations may seem harmless, the "nitty gritty" in these people's lives may be examples of domestic violence. A person's hair stylist may be their only outlet for relief.

"The people that sit in our chairs tell us things that they wouldn't tell their own mother," said Rosalind Wood, owner and president of New Horizons Beauty College in Logan.

"We see lumps and bumps that people don't usually see."

But now cosmetologists throughout the state are receiving training on what to do when their clients disclose personal information that shouldn't be ignored. It's called Cut It Out -- a free program that provides domestic violence training for salon students and professionals in Utah, according to www.attorneygeneral.utah.gov/cutitout.html.

"It gives an outlet to information about the domestic violence hotline so [people] can call and get help," Blauer said who is now a domestic violence trainer for Cut It Out. "It gets rid of the myths that are happening with DV."

Through the program, one of 14 different trainers throughout the state provide a training session in a classroom setting that provides all the information cosmetologists would need about domestic violence. Since the program began in May 2005, more than 800 students and professionals have been trained, said Coleen Staples, Cut It Out program coordinator.

"This program teaches you how to recognize domestic violence and how to respond to a client that may disclose information to you," Staples said. "This is not a training program of how to be a therapist; [cosmetologists] are in a position to see a pattern of abuse."

Domestic violence is defined as abusive or violent behavior through word or action inflicted by one member of a family or household on another, according to answers.com. Brandy Farmer, a survivor of and specialist on domestic violence said there are many resources for victims of domestic violence.

"By educating people, they start to realize how big of a problem domestic violence is," she said.

Cut It Out focuses on training students at beauty colleges throughout the state because these are the people who will be working in the cosmetology field in the future, Staples said.

Last week, students at New Horizons received its second training from the Cut It Out program, from Blauer.

"I think it's a very much needed program and we've been looking from something, and when this came up we just jumped on it," Wood said. "I think it gives everybody an opportunity to look at things from a different light."

Wood is so happy with the Cut It Out program that she plans on giving the same training to her students every nine months indefinitely. Blauer said this time of year is when most people request training and she is constantly looking for more colleges and businesses that would be interested.

For more information about the program, visit www.cutitout.org or http:// attorneygeneral.utah.gov/domesticviolence.html. For information about domestic violence, call 1-800 -897-LINK.

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