Jeenee Morrison, LISW-S, MS, (seated) and Kelly Shiltz recently launched the Shear Hope mental health training initiative with stylists at Vagabond Salon. Community of Hope is offering free training designed to equip stylists, barbers, estheticians, nail technicians, and other personal service professionals with the skills to recognize when a client may be struggling and connect them to help.
Courtesy photo
WASHINGTON COURT HOUSE, Ohio — Community of Hope, the Fayette County Suicide Prevention Coalition, has launched Shear Hope, a free mental health training initiative designed to equip stylists, barbers, estheticians, nail technicians, and other personal service professionals with the skills to recognize when a client may be struggling and connect them to help.
The initiative launched its first training at Vagabond Salon, with the support of owner Andrea Gayheart. Stylists learned how to recognize warning signs, ask directly and confidently about mental health concerns, respond without judgment, and connect clients to local resources.
Why Stylists?
Research shows that nearly 1 million Ohioans are living with untreated mental illness. But personal service professionals occupy a unique and powerful position in their communities: clients trust them, return to them consistently, and often open up to them in ways they may not with anyone else, including mental health professionals.
“It’s important that we always have community folks that are able to get people the help they need,” said trainer Jeenee Morrison, LISW-S, MS, “because you’ll see your hairdresser way more than you will your mental health professional most likely.”
What Stylists Learn
The 1.5 to 2-hour free training covers:
– How to recognize signs that someone may be struggling
– How to ask directly and confidently, without steering around difficult topics
– How to respond with support, not judgment
– How to connect clients to local mental health resources
For some, the training addressed a gap they had long felt but didn’t know how to fill.
“I specifically learned to ask things directly,” said Gayheart following the Vagabond training. “That would be something I would typically in the past have steered clear from. I went around things versus just being direct. Learning that today was very beneficial.”
A Community Response
Shear Hope is not designed to make stylists into mental health professionals. What it does do is equip them to have a conversation and to know where to turn.
“Learning about how important one conversation can be for someone, and how it can save a life, and just trying to be more comfortable with having those conversations…that’s what this is about,” said Kelly Shiltz, coalition chair.
Following the Vagabond training, participants expressed enthusiasm about expanding the initiative throughout the local community.
“We hope to go to some of the other people in our industry that we know in our local community here and hopefully get more trainings going,” Gayheart said, “because I think this is something that’s so important.”
Get Trained
Shear Hope training is free and open to stylists, barbers, estheticians, nail techs, and all personal service providers. Training sessions run approximately 1.5 to 2 hours and are held in person.
To schedule a training or learn more, contact Kelly at 740-606-7688.
“We are also offering programs tailored to meet the needs of other professions, from bartenders to the construction industry and more,” Shiltz said. “If your workplace would like a training, please call us.”
If you or someone you know is in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988, the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.