Yves Saint Laurent (YSL) Beauty has joined forces with the Australian non-profit organisation Free From Family Violence (FVREE) as part of its global Abuse is Not Love initiative, dedicated to combating intimate partner violence (IPV) in over 25 countries. Abuse Is Not Love aims to educate two million people worldwide by 2030.
In collaboration with FVREE, YSL Beauty is committed to training nearly 1,000 individuals, including its employees and young Australians, by year’s end. The training aims to empower them to recognise and respond effectively to signs of abuse — especially in young people (16-24), who have the highest vulnerability to and prevalence of this issue — contributing to the prevention of IPV.
Through this partnership, YSL Beauty seeks to raise awareness of IPV warning signs and drive lasting change in Australia, where, on average, one woman is killed by her intimate partner every week. FVREE, with over 28 years’ of experience, provides a range of programs and services focused on preventing, intervening, responding to, and supporting recovery from intimate partner violence.
Speaking exclusively with Retail Beauty, Brianna Myors, Program Manager Primary Prevention and Education, FVREE, highlighted the unique role the beauty industry plays in addressing intimate partner violence (IPV) in Australia.
“In Australia, one woman is killed every week by her current or former partner,” she said. “Very few women experiencing intimate partner and family violence tell the police or a specialist service first. They’re more likely to talk to someone they trust or have a close bond with. For many, this is a salon professional such as a hairdresser or beauty therapist. Through research, we discovered salon workers were being told about intimate partner and family violence but receive no formal training to handle this when it comes up in the chair. Our organisation aims to bridge this gap and prevent victim-survivors, salon professionals and others in the beauty industry from being left at risk.”
Myors said she advocates for standardising this life-saving education in businesses and incorporating it into beauty apprenticeships.
“FVREE delivers a national program called HaiR-3Rs which aims to train professionals working in the hair and beauty industry to spot the signs of intimate partner violence and know what to say and do if a client shares their experience of violence,” she said. “It’s not about training professionals to become counsellors, but to know the referral pathways for support and to encourage those who disclose to reach out to specialist services. We believe this life-saving education should be standard practice in all businesses and urge education providers to embed this training into hair and beauty apprenticeships so that emerging professionals feel confident to respond when they inevitably receive a disclosure of intimate partner or family violence.”
Myors emphasised the industry’s significant role in changing societal perceptions of IPV and encourages broader participation in preventing and responding to violence.
“The partnership between YSL Beauty and FVREE showcases how the broader beauty industry can play a pivotal role in raising awareness of intimate partner violence and supporting victim-survivors to access the services that they need,” she said. “As we often say in our training sessions, ‘Women keep the beauty industry alive, let’s keep them alive’. At FVREE we are passionate about changing the way society views intimate partner violence and believe that with appropriate training everyone can play a role in preventing and responding to violence.”
FVREE’s YSL Beauty-funded IPV training has three key pillars:
- Interactive workshops for YSL Beauty’s network of local beauty advisors, to teach these beauty professionals – many of whom work in retail environments connecting with hundreds of customers daily – to spot possible signs of IPV, and know what to say and do if a client shares their experience. The learning outcomes are centred around FVREE’s ‘Hair-3Rs’ framework, specifically designed for professionals in the beauty industry: recognise the signs of IPV, respond appropriately to disclosures IPV and refer safely to specialist IPV services.
- Internal trainings for YSL Beauty’s Australian corporate employees and the L’Oréal Group AU leadership team, to build their capacity and confidence to support colleagues or team members who may be experiencing IPV at home.
- External training programs facilitated for young Australians, to equip them with the skills and confidence to take action to prevent and respond to intimate partner violence in their community. The interactive sessions will explore gender, equality and building respectful relationships. The training will be provided online and in local schools, sporting clubs and tertiary institutions all across Australia.
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