Salon workers are being offered training on helping clients who are victims of domestic abuse by Safe Passage in DeKalb.
The “Cut It Out” Program is a national curriculum that was developed by the Beauty Professionals Association along with Great Clips. It’s a one hour training program that can be provided to anyone who does any type of professional beauty or salon work and conducted by anyone who works for an agency like Safe Passage.
Safe Passage is an organization devoted to reducing and/or preventing domestic and sexual violence in DeKalb County. Marjorie Askins is a sexual assault preventionist at Safe Passage who has been involved with the “Cut It Out” program.
“The training itself focuses very specifically on recognizing what some of the signs of abuse are and how to respond appropriately and make a safe and confidential referral to an agency like Safe Passage,” Askins said.
Askins said the goal of the training is to provide tools so the salon professional can actively listen, create a safe space and provide some supportive words.
“Things like ‘I’m so sorry this is going on’, ‘I believe you’, and ‘This is not your fault’. Saying things like that and providing a safe and supportive environment can go a long way towards empowering a survivor in getting out of a really dangerous situation,” Askins said.
So far, the salon professionals who have gone through training have given positive feedback.
“There were about, I want to say 10 professionals from five or six different salons who came, and they were very positive. They said it was helpful in terms of giving them some very basic tools in order to recognize when some warning signs might be present and also an idea of how to have that conversation,” Askins said.