Rodrick Samuels on The Silent Work, Modern Beauty Education and Why Empathy Wins
MODERN SALON sat down with Samuels to discuss the book, beauty education, mentorship and the habits that help beauty professionals thrive.
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Mental Health Month: Remove the Stigma from Mental Illness
Even on these beautiful spring days of May, some people are feeling low. Fighting depression and other mental health disorders is not easy, but it’s even harder to do alone. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) asks all of us to ...
May 17, 2015
Justin Case for Getty Images
2 min to read
Even on these beautiful spring days of May, some people are feeling low. Fighting depression and other mental health disorders is not easy, but it’s even harder to do alone. The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) asks all of us to take the “Stigma-free Pledge” to help remove any social stigma associated with mental illness that keeps people from seeking treatment. According to NAMI, only 60 percent of people suffering from mental illness are treated in any given year.
What does taking the pledge give you the empower to do?
Learn about mental health—educate yourself and others.
See the person not the illness—strive to listen, understand, tell your own story.
Take action—spread the word, raise awareness, make a difference.
Green is the color of mental health awareness. To designate May as Mental Health Month in your salon, you can:
Wear a green ribbon, green shoes or shoelaces or any green article of clothing, and explain to your clients what it signifies.
Promote the latest green pastel hair color or donate $2 to a mental health organization for every client who chooses or purchases a green nail shade. You can wear the hair and nail colors yourself!
Turn your social media green by promoting Mental Health Month on all of your platforms. Tage all of your “green” photos using #mentalhealthmonth.
Getting people into treatment can help them to keep their lives from shattering. The hopelessness, erratic behavior, sleep problems and other symptoms can damage a sufferer’s personal relationships, interfere with job performance and lead to thoughts of, and attempts at, suicide. Children and teens can suffer from mental illness as well; according to NAMI, only half of young people get treatment.
Go to the NAMI website to review the many warning signs. If someone at the salon or in your personal life seems to be acting differently from the way the person usually acts, check out the warning signs and perhaps provide the number for the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 800-273-8255.
Mental Health America is promoting the theme “B4Stage4" to stress how important it is to address mental illness and get into treatment before severe “Stage 4" symptoms develop. Go to the Mental Health America website to download a mental health awareness toolkit.
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