Charlene Stepney still thinks about a French-speaking woman who came into her salon years ago, brought by a man who talked on her behalf and watched her closely for the duration of her hair appointment.
“Because I spoke French, and it was strange, I started asking her questions,” Stepney said Thursday night at her business, Stepney Institute of Esthetics & Wellness in Homewood. “I asked her, was that her husband? and she said, ‘No, it was not.’ Then I asked her, was she safe? And she would not respond.”
Stepney said she believes the woman was being trafficked, but at the time she didn’t know how to help her.
“I just feel to this day like I let her down,” Stepney said.
Estheticians such as Stepney are set up to encounter clients with a wide variety of backgrounds and life experiences, which may include survivors of abuse. In 2019, training on how to handle difficult conversations and recognize signs of domestic violence and sexual assault became required by state law for all licensed beauty professionals.
On Thursday, representatives from the Crisis Center for South Suburbia offered training and perspective during a session at the Stepney Institute. It was one of the first of many to be offered to salon professionals at their schools and workplaces throughout October, which is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. While the center provides free training all year at salons and cosmetology schools like Stepney’s, Crisis Center director of support services Chris Alcorn Catena hopes to spotlight resources for all south and southwest suburban cosmetologists looking to fulfill their Continuing Education requirement for license renewal.
“The reason that it’s so important to us, quite honestly, is that cosmetologists have a unique access,” Alcorn Catena said. “A cosmetologist is one of the few professionals that can touch you … My stylist is going to brush the hair away from my neck. If there are bruises, they’re going to see them.”
The stakes of initiating or responding to a client who is exhibiting signs of abuse were not lost on students at Thursday’s session at the Stepney Institute Thursday. Tracy Curtis, community education and outreach coordinator at the Crisis Center, herself is a survivor of domestic abuse, delivered the training, emphasizing the importance of offering support and providing resources to those who may be in dangerous relationships.
According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, roughly 41% of women and 26% of men have experienced contact sexual violence, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner during their lifetime.
“It’s all of our responsibilities to help,” Curtis said during Thursday’s training. “It really is, because it does impact us all. I was that one victim where my friend said, ‘I don’t want to get involved.’ So I don’t want anyone to feel so uncomfortable that they won’t get involved, because they do need the support.”
Curtis said anyone who is unsure about how to support someone experiencing domestic abuse can reach out to the Crisis Center’s 24/7 hotline at 708-429-7233.
Following the two-hour training, Stepney Institute student Tymeeka Fairfax said she was excited when she found out the training was mandatory for licensure, thinking she can apply what she has learned even outside of her work in cosmetics. She said as a volunteer mentor to young girls, she realizes the importance of discussing healthy relationships early and the training provided new skills for initiating and guiding conversations about intimate partnership.
“Before I came to this class, I had a session with a group of girls talking about dating, and the conversations were all, ‘I love him and he loves me.’” Fairfax said. “And I asked, what is love? Love language is a thing that should be transparent, because if you know how to love somebody then you can kind of take into account, okay, this is what abuse is and this is what love is — differentiate the two.”
But targeting beauty professionals with the legal requirement for domestic violence training has met some resistance. Stepney said since the mandate went into effect, she has questioned why the state placed responsibility on the majority-female industry to respond to a mostly male-driven issue.
“There’s still a lot of times where I wonder why we were chosen,” Stepney said. “How much help are we really going to be? The thing that is never really talked about, that needs to be, is how many of us are in abusive situations ourselves.”
Stepney said she hopes in the future cosmetologists are given more tools to protect themselves while continuing to support their clients and colleagues.
“As time goes on, hopefully the conversations stay current and they can give us more training,” she said.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, you can reach the national hotline at 1-800-799-7233.
