Issue link: https://www.ascpskindeepdigital.com/i/1514075
66 ASCP Skin Deep Winter 2024 WHEN A CLIENT SITS in your chair, it's more than likely that your time together will go beyond just a beauty service. At the very least, you'll make small talk about life or what you have going on that day, but some sessions can go much deeper. Particularly with long-term, regular clients, it's not uncommon for beauty professionals to develop meaningful relationships with clients. Either way, the treatment experience is inevitably intimate on some level, given your proximity to each other and the physical touch involved. The client may even share parts of their medical history as part of the service. Plus, let's not forget how closely tied our skin and hair can be to our mental health. All of this puts you, as the professional, in a unique position. Because of a client's physical and emotional vulnerability, you can be privy to parts of their lives that they typically try to hide—such as being a victim of domestic violence. Common signs of domestic violence include irregular bruising or marks, or a client's partner accompanying them to appointments and being demanding about the services they receive. A client may even directly confide in you that they are in an abusive situation. If you suspect or discover that a client is experiencing domestic violence, it can be difficult to know how to respond. This is why services have been put in place to help train beauty professionals to handle these situations and provide further resources for their clients. THE REALITY OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE Though previously considered a taboo topic, domestic violence has long been a prevalent issue in the US. Domestic violence affects an estimated 10 million people in the US every year, and as many as one in four women and one in nine men are victims of domestic violence. 1 Experts say that, as of April 2023, "virtually all health-care professionals will at some point evaluate or treat a patient who is a victim of domestic or family violence." 2 The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) defines domestic violence as "willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior as part of a systematic pattern of power and control perpetrated by one intimate partner against another," noting that this can include "physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, and emotional abuse." 3 As a beauty professional whose job involves touching someone's face or hair, you may notice injuries in these areas that the average person might miss.