{"id":610753,"date":"2026-09-01T02:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/610753\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T02:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T02:28:14","slug":"calls-for-mental-health-training-in-the-beauty-industry","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/610753\/","title":{"rendered":"Calls for mental health training in the beauty industry"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gabbing to your hairdresser<\/a> is considered a core tenet of the salon experience \u2013 but there is a darker side to this time-honoured ritual that many overlook.<\/p>\n

Australia\u2019s beauty sector<\/a> is facing growing calls for qualification reform<\/a>, as new research reveals stylists are expected to be \u201cquasi-therapists\u201d with no mental health training<\/a>, workplace protocols or psychosocial support systems in place.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

There are urgent calls across the hair and beauty industry for formal mental health training.\u00a0AP<\/p>\n

In a study<\/a> conducted by the\u00a0University of Melbourne<\/a>, it was revealed stylists across years of interviews, surveys, ethnography and literature reviews considered heavy conversations with clients \u201cpart of the job.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to the study, the labour salon workers undertake is far beyond skin-deep, with many bearing the weight of customers\u2019 woes as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an assumption that what happens in salons is all about appearances, when in fact this work also involves intimacy and trust,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile many people easily understand that jobs such as childcare, aged care, teaching and nursing involve care work, we less frequently talk about the care involved in hair and beauty salons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Based on the research findings, the report recommended the creation of fit-for-purpose wellbeing training for personal services in Australia.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is an urgent need for industry change to better train and support workers in undertaking this care work,\u201d it stated.<\/p>\n

Hairdresser Shaye Gundry agreed with this recommendation, saying these findings accurately reflected the day-to-day realities faced by clinicians and stylists<\/a> across the country.<\/p>\n

Having worked in the industry for over 20 years, she admitted conversations of this nature had always come with the territory \u2013 but it\u2019s a side of the job some employees are ill-equipped for.<\/p>\n

\"Shaye<\/p>\n

Shaye Gundry is a hairdresser with over 20 years\u2019 experience in the industry.\u00a0Shaye Gundry<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes we hear about really deep marriage breakdowns, grief, anxiety \u2013 and all of a sudden, we\u2019re the untrained therapist,\u201d Gundry told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

She described those within her profession as \u201caccidental first-responders\u201d \u2013 adding that in an industry where some apprentices are as young as 15, official guidance on how best to help clients in crisis is necessary.<\/p>\n

\u201c[For] people that don\u2019t know how to handle certain conversations, I feel like a bit of training would benefit us.\u201d<\/p>\n

While there have been ongoing discussions about mental health training becoming part of the job, Gundry believes this process should be moving far quicker.<\/p>\n

In 2021, hairdressers union Hair Stylists Australia launched a campaign<\/a> calling for a full review of the current apprenticeship training package for prospective stylists.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Hairdressing<\/p>\n

Gundry says hairdressers want to help clients – but are unsure how to.\u00a0Shaye Gundry<\/p>\n

It pushed to include a mental health module as part of an apprentice\u2019s Certificate III course alongside perms, cuts and colours, but was unsuccessful at the time.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Nine.com.au, Australian Workers Union organiser Uros Rasic described the current need for mental health training in the industry as \u201cdire.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we don\u2019t see is the emotional trauma and the mental health implications employees are experiencing through this.\u201d<\/p>\n

He cited domestic violence-related discussions as a frequent occurrence \u2013 which often left stylists grappling with feelings of helplessness.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re trying their very best in terms of referring people to agencies and making sure that their customers are in a safe space, but it\u2019s very hard when you don\u2019t have that training.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Rasic, clients getting the help they might need is entirely dependent on the capacity of individual hairdressers \u2013 and implores tertiary institutions<\/a> and polytechs to make further education a wider industry standard.<\/p>\n

\u201cTraining providers need to embed it, we want government to back it and employers to meet their duties to make sure that everyone\u2019s being looked after,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Gabbing to your hairdresser is considered a core tenet of the salon experience \u2013 but there is a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":610754,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[103,61,60,410,411],"class_list":["post-610753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mental-health","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mental-health","tag-mentalhealth"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610753","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=610753"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/610753\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/610754"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=610753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=610753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=610753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}