December 18, 2023

Duckworth, Blackburn Introduce Bipartisan Bill to Help Beauty Professionals Recognize and Respond to Domestic Violence

 

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – Today, U.S. Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-IL) and Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) introduced bipartisan legislation to incentivize states to provide domestic violence awareness training for beauty professionals and cosmetologists, which would help these individuals better recognize signs of abuse in their clients, appropriately intervene and keep them safe. The Supporting the Abused by Learning Options to Navigate Survivor (SALONS) Stories Act would increase already-established grants to states that require beauty professionals and cosmetologists to undergo free and easily accessible domestic violence awareness training in order to help ensure more of these individuals are trained to successfully navigate conversations with clients who could be in danger.

“Victims of domestic violence often don’t know where to turn or who to talk to, but they do often continue going to their salons—which puts beauty professionals in a unique position of potentially being among the first people who can recognize signs of abuse,” said Duckworth. “I’m proud to join Senator Blackburn on our bipartisan SALONS Stories Act, which builds on Illinois’s 2017 law, to help more beauty professionals access free domestic violence awareness training that can give them the tools and knowledge they need to help victims effectively. How they handle these critical moments could be life-saving.”

“One in four women will be a victim of domestic violence in her lifetime, and in the United States, three women are killed each day by an intimate partner,” said Blackburn. “There is no better community to recognize this abuse and help victims than beauty professionals. Some women, even at their most vulnerable and isolated, will continue going to the salon and building relationships with their cosmetologists. This is a common-sense bipartisan bill to help equip cosmetologists with resources necessary to identify and support victims of domestic violence.”

Illinois and Tennessee have joined several states in passing landmark legislation to give beauty professionals these necessary skills, serving as models for states around the nation. 

The bipartisan SALONS Stories Act is supported by YWCA USA, the National Network to End Domestic Violence and the National Domestic Violence Hotline.

A copy of the bill text can be found using the link here.

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