Hairdressers have become the social hub of many communities across the globe
People use them as a place to hang out, gossip and get information about what’s going on in their area.
Many barbers and hairdressers double as unpaid counsellors as they listen to their client’s problems while they are in the salon chair.
Now a Hartlepool charity is hoping that approach will work with troubled teens on the brink of entering a life of crime.
The Wharton Trust on Dyke House Estate is using the hairdressing skills of staff and volunteers to find out just what’s happening in the lives of the area’s young people.
The charity is using one-to-one relationships built up between a hairdresser and his/her client to break down barriers between young people and older mentors.
Mentors will be able to give the youngsters an insight into the consequences of their behaviour as well as where they can go for support if they want to turn their lives around.
Offer support
Caroline Robinson, Big Local Development Worker, said: “We won’t tell them to stop what they are doing but if they want a way out, we will offer support. If they don’t, we’ll prepare them for what’s to come.”
Jade Bramby, Lead Youth Worker, is a trained hairdresser and nail technician. She uses this approach to talk to the girls, with whom she works.
Now volunteers with lived experience will extend a barbering service to boys and men.
One of the volunteers has spent most of his adult life behind bars. His life started to spiral out of control when he was excluded from mainstream education at 14-years-old.
He’s now working hard to change his life – thanks to support from the Wharton Trust – and willing to share his experience with others.
Fast money
He said: “Fast money (from crime,) you spend in a day or two and it’s gone but when you work for it properly, you appreciate it more. This organisation gave me a chance, they believed in me and now I want better for myself and my daughter.”
In addition to one-to-ones in the hairdresser’s chair and at drop-in sessions, the Wharton Trust will offer talks and work with groups.
Staff and volunteers will work with at-risk individuals identified by schools, the Probation Service, Youth Offending Service, youth clubs, Cleveland Police, Hartlepool’s defence solicitors and Cleveland’s Custody Navigators.
As the project progresses, the Trust will measure the scale and rate of the re-offending of those, who have been involved.
Cleveland PCC Steve Turner said: “It’s easier to slip into a life of crime than get out of it.
“The threat of prison is seen as something scary – and a major deterrent –the first time. After that, many criminals see it more as an occupational hazard.
“I’d rather we prevent people from getting involved in crime in the first place and then look at reducing re-offending.
“It costs much more to keep a person locked in the cycle of offending, prison and then re-offending.
“It’s far better to help them break that cycle, get to the heart of the problem, provide individuals with support and help people stop commiting offences.”
The project has been kick-started with a £8,450 grant from CURV – Cleveland’s serious violence reduction unit.
CURV is part of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Cleveland.