🔗 Share this article

Across the vibrant neighborhood of the locality, known for its business drive and dynamic evening scene, an understated transformation is happening. Locally, hairdressers are taking on positions as psychological well-being supporters, providing someone to talk to in addition to haircuts.

A Trailblazer in Social Aid

The stylist, a seasoned hairdresser, has spent a long career not merely working on tresses but furthermore providing emotional guidance to her customers. Without formal education, she earlier tried being a bank cashier before finding her calling in the beauty industry.

“Stay positive,” she advised an anxious young person nervous over failing exams. “If you don’t succeed, why assume that your life is over in life?”

Emotional Well-being in the Continent: An Unspoken Subject

As reported by the global health body, over a huge number individuals in the continent experience mental health problems. But, counseling is limited, with only a handful of professionals on hand per many individuals.

Across African-descendant populations, hairdressing salons are now comfort zones, particularly in regions with little or no options for psychological support.

Hairdressers as Healers: An Initiative Creating Impact

The Bluemind Foundation, operating in one country, another nation, and Togo, started the Hairdresser Healing program. According to the program's creator, the director, more than 400 hairdressers underwent coaching in the last couple of years to serve as initial support providers, assisting over many individuals.

In the coming years, the target is to educate over numerous professionals across 20 countries.

‘The Trust Is Already There Present’

The project began due to a personal heartbreak. In 2012, de Putter lost her husband during visiting her native her homeland. The event has not been closed.

“I passed the initial evening after losing my husband alongside my stylist,” de Putter shared. “This professional was the individual I trusted the most as one is merely encircled by others and you don’t know the perpetrator's identity.”

Motivated by her story, the group carried out a 2021 study across several Francophone countries. The findings indicated that most participants admitted to confiding in their hairdressers, and over 90% of hairdressers reported that their clients had asked for advice.

Education and Assistance

The program features a free, intensive multi-day program with specialists and professionals who instruct participants about supportive dialogue, domestic abuse, signs of depression, and basic psychological concepts. After completion, they are evaluated before receiving a credential.

“The course went very well … I got my qualification and this knowledge,” shared another hairdresser, showing a educational material in her shop in Abobo.

Over six months, trainees obtain ongoing support through peer groups and availability of a psychological referral system. When a client reveals deeper troubles, stylists can guide them to qualified therapists, or for instances of abuse at home, to the law enforcement.

Challenges and Triumphs

At first, financial support for the initiative relied on the founder's own money, but currently, private donors and institutions like an international fund are providing assistance. Still, support is insufficient for the volume of demand facing the organization's limited staff of workers and about supporters.

In spite of these difficulties, participants report accounts of success and recovery. In Togo, a participant hired an individual who had been in a psychiatric hospital, providing reintegration support.

“Commonly following treatment and you’ve been hospitalised, others claim you have problems,” noted de Putter. “But if you find work and a person who agrees to support you, you get out of the stigma.”

Another professional departed her situation due to she was a victim of violence, but now helps people. Locally, beauticians report that a few men have started reaching out for counsel.

A Sense of Fulfillment

Across the hairdressers, exists a widespread feeling of accomplishment over their emergence as a form of emotional support in their neighborhoods.

“Whenever individuals visit discuss their challenges to me, it's an honor for me too since I know that I am a listener for an individual,” shared she. “I reflect that each person needs a confidant.”

“For many of these women, it represents the initial recognition as a figurehead in their neighborhood and a supporter,” said she. “The participants state to us: ‘Previously I only working as a hairdresser, now I support well-being.’”