DATC prepares future hair stylists to help clients facing domestic abuse
Cosmetology student Jordyn Bumm shares a moment with her aunt McKell Barlow as she gives her a gives a peacock haircut on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Jordyn Bumm gives a peacock haircut to her aunt McKell Barlow on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Caitlin Supinger, 19, applies color matching foundation to fellow student Sydnie Adams, 21, on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Savannah Green,18, practices giving a perm haircut to her mannequin on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Kinsie Dennis, 20, practices nail filling on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Maddy Walters gives eyelash extensions to fellow student Amber Christensen on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Maddy Walters gives eyelash extensions to fellow student Amber Christensen on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Maddy Walters gives eyelash extensions to fellow student Amber Christensen on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology students McKenzie Otteson, 18, and Savannah Green,18, have a laugh while practicing hairstyles on their mannequins on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Makenna Zimmer practices hairstyling on her mannequin on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Maddie Calder, 18, practices balyage hairstyling on her mannequin on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology student Crezna Merritt, 17, practices filing down nails on a mannequin hand on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology master esthetician instructor Baillie Chapman, right, and student Mariah Montgomery watch as student Dana Baldwin prepares to begin laser hair removal on student Julianne DeVries on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Cosmetology students practice a variety of hairstyles on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
KAYSVILLE — If the walls of the Davis Applied Technology College hair salon could talk, they’d cry.
Courtnee Hale, a student there who plans to graduate in June, said she used her time in the salon chair to vent about life. Having previously been in an abusive relationship, she had a lot to talk about.
“Now, being a stylist, it’s hard to decipher what to do or where to go because you want to keep your professional relationship but you genuinely care about that person,” she said.
Hale hasn’t yet attended, but for the last year, DATC has offered optional bystander intervention training to its cosmetology students through Safe Harbor Crisis Center.
Such training could have been useful for cosmetology and master esthetics instructor Shelly Morgan in the mid-90s. While running a Utah salon, one of her stylists told her a client was being physically abused by her husband but had plans in place with her family to leave.
Morgan began to cry in a DATC conference room last week when she went on to say the husband ultimately ended up killing his wife before killing himself.
“It was really hard on the stylist who worked with her because she was like, ‘What could I have done different?'” Morgan said.
Between 2000 and 2011, domestic violence-related homicides accounted for an average of 41.7 percent of all adult homicides in Utah, according to the 2013 No More Secrets report compiled by several state agencies.
The report also states that a 2008 survey of adult females found 14.2 percent of them experienced hitting, slapping or hurting in anyway from a current or former significant other.
Nationally, women experience about 4.8 million intimate partner related physical assaults and rapes each year according to the Utah Department of Health.
Safe Harbor Sexual Assault Program Manager Drea Dominguez said for some victims, the only time they have to themselves is while they’re getting their hair done.
“You don’t have to ask any more questions or dive any deeper, you just start by believing them and say, ‘I’m so sorry that happened to you,'” she said.
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MATT HERP/Standard-Examiner
Cosmetology student Hannah Stewart, 17, gives a pedicure to customer Jan Russler of Syracuse on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017, at the Davis Applied Technology College in Kaysville.
Illinois recently passed a first-of-its-kind law requiring cosmetologists to take state training teaching how to identify abuse and assault.
DATC Cosmetology, Esthetics, and Nails Technician Coordinator Carol Wood Anderson now hopes Utah will follow suit. Once, in one of the training courses she teaches, 10 of 12 students raised their hands to say they had dealt with domestic violence in their lives.
“If any state should have (training), it should be Utah,” she said.
The training is offered twice annually for students in the 1,600-hour cosmetology program. Anderson said it’s optional because she recognizes the programming could be a trigger for those who have experienced abuse themselves.
One of those students is Stephanie Powell, who will graduate in February.
Since attending the training, she’s much more aware of how her clients act and talk. For instance, Powell noticed a woman at the salon in January whose husband didn’t let her keep her phone and sat with her through an entire three-hour hair appointment, which are potential signs of abuse.
But even talking about that brought Powell to tears, reminding her of the sexual abuse she suffered as a child.
“All we can do is be there for them and be a listening ear and just someone they can talk to,” she said.
Morgan said a hairstylist and their client have one of the most intimate relationships, despite the two people involved essentially being strangers.
Anderson said she thinks this is because touch is one of the last barriers in a relationship and with the person doing your hair, it’s broken first.
“To really let someone rub and touch you builds a different kind of relationship really fast,” Morgan said.
Lisa Malmstrom, a cosmetology student who graduated in January, said the bystander intervention training has made her more comfortable when her clients disclose abuse. It taught her, a self-described “fixer,” that sometimes people just need someone to listen.
Malmstrom was also previously in an abusive relationship and said people in that situation often don’t think they have a way out.
The classes teach stylists to show their clients they have a way out by giving them discreet cards with phone numbers to counseling centers so they can seek help.
Morgan said she’s all too aware men are also victims of abuse, having once worked with a gay male stylist in the mid-90s with injuries he couldn’t explain. He eventually told Morgan his partner was physically abusing him.
“At that point, there definitely was no help for men, especially a gay man, so I do think we need to bring up that this affects men and there are resources out there,” she said.
DATC Title IV Coordinator Dina Nielsen said she can see how the training can be viewed as anti-male, but the intent is to also arm male stylists with the proper resources when their clients disclose to them.
“This message is so important and it’s so timely for Davis County,” she said. “I think we need it and we’re ready for it.”
Contact education reporter Anna Burleson at aburleson@standard.net. Follow her on Twitter at @AnnagatorB or like her on Facebook at Facebook.com/BurlesonReports.
