Scottish salon group partners with children's charity

Salon group, Rainbow Room International, has partnered with Action for Children to provide the salons' teams with mental health training. In return, Rainbow Room International will provide hairdressing training to young people from the Action for Children charity.

Established for 60 years, Action for Children in Scotland works directly with more than 20,000 children, young people, parents and carers each year, helping to transform lives. 

The Rainbow Room International team have already taken their First Aid for Mental Health SCQF Level 5 course, which helps to identify signs of mental health distress and provide advice, along with online training developed by NHS Health Scotland and NHS Education for Scotland ‘Ask Tell Save a Life: Every Life Matters' to support suicide prevention.

In June, Rainbow Room International will welcome a group of youngsters from the Action for Children charity to start their Level 1 Hairdressing qualification. At the end of the 8-10 week course, participants will receive certificates and have a portfolio of work enabling them to progress in their hairdressing career if they wish. Those taking part will also have the opportunity to take part in work experience.

Commenting on their collaboration with Action for Children, Leigh Kerr (pictured), Rainbow Room International Academy Director, says:

“At Rainbow Room International our priority plan this year, particularly after the effects of the pandemic, is to focus on the mental wellbeing of all of our teams. The training provided by Action for Children has been invaluable to us, allowing us to be a lot more knowledgeable on mental health and how we can help and support ourselves, our teams and our clients. As hairdressers, communication is a key part of our role with our teams and clients and this training has helped us to understand how we can communicate more effectively, particularly in regards to sensitive subjects. We now have 12 fully qualified Mental Health First Aiders and all of our Rainbow Room International teachers and management were involved in the Mental Health Awareness courses.”

Paul Carberry, Action for Children Director for Scotland, adds:

“We are proud to launch this collaboration with Rainbow Room International. Over the course of this partnership, a group of young men we support at Action for Children will become qualified in hairdressing while, at the same time, staff from Rainbow Room International will gain mental health first-aid training.

“The last year or so has been challenging for everyone. We know one of the major fallouts of Covid-19 has been the negative impact on people's mental health. It is our hope that this partnership will, at the very least, allow more people to be able to talk about their mental health, often an important first step in itself.”