fbpx

Heal by Hair: Bluemind Foundation launches the inaugural promotion of the first Movement of Hairdresser Ambassadors for Mental Health in Africa

Heal by Hair: Bluemind Foundation launches the inaugural promotion of the first Movement of Hairdresser Ambassadors for Mental Health in Africa

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Email
Print

LOMÉ, DOUALA and PARIS, April 4, 2022 -/African Media Agency (AMA)/- Bluemind Foundation is organizing the first edition of the Heal by Hair training from April 4 to 6, 2022, at Azalaï Hotel Abidjan (Ivory Coast). This short training program aims to train 30 hairdressing professionals to become ambassadors of mental health of the signature program Heal by Hair.

Selected from nearly 250 applications from professionals and self-taught by a jury composed of members of the Scientific Council and the Stakeholders Committee of the Bluemind Foundation, the first class of Heal by Hair ambassadors is comprised of owners or managers of hair salons from the Abidjan communes of Yopougon, Abobo and Cocody. With an average age of 35 years and having at least two years of professional experience, the selected hairdressers are all eager to be better equipped to contribute to tahing care of their client’s mental health.

“Women don’t come to the salons just for their hair. But also to de-stress by talking and sharing with their trusted hairdressers. Therefore, the Heal by Hair program is more than welcome. It will allow us to develop new skills to help our customers better”, said Victoire Biégny, a selected participant for the program Heal by Hair. She is also President of the National Committee for the Promotion of Activities of the Professions of Aesthetics of Côte d’Ivoire (CONAPAPECI) and President of the Board of Directors of the National Council of Hairdressing and Aesthetics of Côte d’Ivoire.

For three (3) days, the ambassador hairdressers will be trained in the basics of mental health and psychological first aid. A customized training, both individually and collectively. They will benefit from theoretical and historical immersion, practical group workshops, well-being and psychological support sessions, leadership coaching and meetings with inspiring personalities.

The pedagogical objectives of the Heal by Hair training are to provide hairdresser ambassadors with a more in-depth knowledge of mental health disorders; to give them a method and tools adapted to observe and recognize the first manifestations of mental troubles or the aggravation of existing conditions; to develop interpersonal and active listening skills; and, if necessary, to be able to refer people to mental health experts. Like somatic first aid training, the Heal by Hair program will allow hairstylist ambassadors to become the first link in the care chain, not mental health professionals.

Experts in mental health and leadership deliver the Heal by Hair training. These Ivorian, pan-African, and international psychiatrists and experts are convinced that mental health needs to be looked at differently and that with a short training in psychological first aid   first-level responders can help make a lasting impact on the ground. Trainers include:

  • Chrissy KUOH, therapist and Bluemind Foundation Scientific Council Coordinator;
  • Dr Olga PORQUET, psychiatrist and member of the Scientific Council of Bluemind Foundation;
  • Dr Sonia KANEKATOUA, psychiatrist and member of the Scientific Council of Bluemind Foundation;
  • Dr Madjara ANOUMATACKY, psychiatrist and psychotherapist. She has been working for nearly 14 years at the National Mental Health Program in Côte d’Ivoire;
  • Dr Anna Corine BISSOUMA, psychiatrist and founding member of the Association Autismes Côte d’Ivoire (2Aci);
  • Dina LAHLOU, expert in mental health and well-being, with more than 26 years of teaching experience;
  • Nabou FALL, managing director of Vizeo, ICF certified coach and Harvard Business School certified female leadership coach.

This edition of Heal by Hair is under the patronage of Mister Ciss St Moïse, a key figure of the Ivorian artistic creation. Excellence Price of the Best Craftsman of the President of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, he started his career as a history and geography teacher. He had also taught at the female National Center of Cocody.

“After several years of R&D and field studies, we are happy to be able to put faces, voices, and especially attentive ears on the Heal by Hair program – which should have a strong social impact! Indeed, we estimate that 10,800 women will benefit from active listening and psychological support from these 30 hairdresser ambassadors, pioneers of the Heal by Hair program, during the year. These encouraging results fuel our audacity to continue innovating in mental health and our determination not to stop there”, says Marie-Alix De PUTTER, founder, and president of Bluemind Foundation.

Distributed by African Media Agency for Bluemind Foundation.

The media kit can be found here.

About Heal by Hair, Africa’s First Mental Health Ambassador Hairdresser Movement
Heal by Hair is a short and innovative three (3) day training program covering the basic principles of active listening and mental health.The ultimate goal of the Heal by Hair program is to improve the mental health and well-being of African women through the hairdressers’ chair, one client at a time. In fact, according to Bluemind Foundation’s African Women’s Hairstylist Cross-Study Report, as of November 2021, 67.3% of women surveyed confide in beauty care professionals. Furthermore, 91% of hairdressers are willing to train in mental health first aid; more than 6 out of 10 women would trust a hairdresser more as a mental health ambassador.African women are a pillar of the African economy. And to enable them to expand their businesses and increase their socio-economic value creation, social incentives are provided.

for certified Hairstylist Ambassadors as part of their Heal by Hair program.Abidjan is the first step in a series of free training under the Heal by Hair program. The program will expand to several other countries in the coming months, including Cameroon and Togo.By 2035, Bluemind Foundation intends to train 1,000 hairdressers in 20 African cities and contribute to the improvement of the mental health of 5,000,000 African women.

About Bluemind Foundation
Bluemind Foundation is an international organization chaired by Marie-Alix de Putter, who founded it in July 2021 following her husband’s murder and her personal experience of post-traumatic stress, chronic depression, and anxiety. Our consistent message is based on a strong belief: mental health is health. With the ambition of making mental health a social, cultural, and political issue, Bluemind Foundation’s mission is to destigmatize mental health and make care accessible to all.The Bluemind Foundation is headquartered in Lomé (Togo) – with offices in Douala (Cameroon) and Paris (France).
Media Contacts

International

Onja RASAMIMANANA

+261 34 83 012 95

+33 7 45 45 34 64
Abidjan

Evrard AKA+225 05 04 27 14 28

welcome@bluemindfoundation.org

www.bluemindfoundation.org

You might also enjoy

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Get updates and learn from the best


By submitting this form, you are consenting to receive marketing emails from: African Media Agency.

Conférence de Presse en Ligne


Les frontières terrestres ne doivent pas constituer des obstacles à la dissémination de votre message. Grâce à notre service de conférence de presse en ligne, nous vous offrons l’opportunité de vous rapprocher des médias africains, chaque fois que vous en aurez besoin.

Nos services comprennent:

Digital Communications


Today, social networks constitute an organization’s first point of contact with a user and a potential customer. At first glance, you need to convince of the relevance and quality of your content to stimulate and motivate the user to go further. We create consistently inspiring online strategy to meet business objectives, engage stakeholders and enhance our client brand’s reputation internally and externally.

 

Communication​ digitale


Les réseaux sociaux représentent aujourd’hui le premier point de contact d’une organisation avec un utilisateur et un client potentiel. Au premier coup d’œil, vous devez le convaincre de la pertinence et de la qualité de votre contenu pour l’inciter à aller plus loin. Nous créons pour vous une stratégie de communication précise et adaptée sur les réseaux sociaux pour atteindre les objectifs commerciaux, impliquer les parties prenantes et améliorer la réputation de votre marque en interne et en externe.

Promotion​ d’événements


Le succès d’un événement réside en moitié dans sa promotion. Peu importe la beauté de l’événement, la qualité des orateurs et de l’ordre du jour, si personne ne rapporte ou ne parle de votre événement, vos efforts seront vains. Nous vous aidons à façonner votre récit et à créer un engouement autour de votre événement. De l’annonce de l’événement à la tenue de celui-ci, nous accompagnons votre effort de planification et le reflétons sur toutes les plateformes médiatiques.​

Formation​ Médiatique


Nous fournissons à vos porte-paroles les outils nécessaires pour présenter vos principaux messages et répondre avec confiance et cohérence aux questions. Notre formation est organisée soit à distance ou en présentiel, avec des études de cas réels et des répétitions. Nos clients repartent avec le sentiment d’être à l’aise devant les journalistes et d’agir en tant qu’ambassadeurs de la marque.

Veille​ Médiatique


Nous mesurons votre portée en relations publiques et rendons compte des informations de votre industrie et des activités de vos  concurrents en surveillant la majorité des canaux de diffusion dans toute l’Afrique. Une veille médiatique complète et opportune est essentielle pour s’assurer que vous ne manquez aucune référence à votre marque, que vous êtes constamment informé de ce qui se passe dans votre industrie et que vous êtes prêt à saisir les opportunités et à réduire les risques en temps opportun.

Relations​ Média


Peu importe le lieu où ils se trouvent, nous sommes une source d‘informations fiables pour les journalistes qui écrivent sur l’Afrique. Nous nous connaissons mutuellement et ils nous font confiance, car nous leur fournissons un contenu crédible qui les aide dans leurs tâches. Nous nous entretenons quotidiennement avec des journalistes aux quatre coins du continent, ce qui fait de nous l’un des organismes les plus efficaces pour mener des campagnes de relations avec les médias.

Stratégie et développement de contenu


Nous créons des stratégies de communication intelligentes, bien documentées et spécialisées destinées à vous aider à construire un récit fort qui engagera votre audience. Nous travaillons en synergie avec vous afin de rédiger des communiqués de presse et des articles d’opinions qui alimentent le récit de votre entreprise. Notre équipe a une expérience approfondie dans la création de récits et le développement de contenu multimédia.

DIFFUSION DE COMMUNIQUES​ DE PRESSE​


C’est le service phare d’AMA. Nous avons mis en place des canaux de diffusion des communiqués de presse auprès des journalistes des 54 États africains ainsi qu’auprès des journalistes américains et européens couvrant les sujets relatifs aux marchés émergents.​

​Nos services comprennent:​

Event Promotion


Half of the success of an event lays in its promotion. Doesn’t matter how beautiful the event is, how wonderful the speakers and the agenda are, if no one reports or talks about your event, your efforts are gone. We help you shape the narrative and create a drumbeat around your event. From the announce all the way to the outcome of the event, we accompany your planning effort and echo it through all media platforms

Media Training


We provide your spokespeople with the tools to present your key messages and answer questions with confidence and coherence. Our training is organised either remotely or face-to- face, with real case studies and rehearsals. Our clients leave feeling comfortable being in front of reporters and acting as brand ambassadors.

Media Monitoring


We measure and report on
your PR reach, industry news, and competitive activity by monitoring most channels in North, West, Central, East and Southern Africa. Comprehensive and timely media monitoring is critical to ensuring that you don’t miss any reporting of your brand,
you’re constantly informed on what’s going on around your business, and you’re ready to capitalise on opportunities and mitigate
risks in a timely fashion..

Media Relations


We have become an authoritative source of news for reporters writing about Africa, wherever they are. We know them, they know us, and they trust us for providing them with timely and accurate content that helps them do their job. We speak to reporters on a daily basis in all corners of the continent and this makes us one of the most effective agencies in running media relations campaigns.

Strategy & Content Development


We create smart and localised communications strategies to help build a strong narrative that will engage your audiences. We partner with you to create press releases and thought leadership pieces that sustain a drumbeat for your company’s narrative. Our team have deep experience in shaping narratives and developing media content.

PRESS RELEASE WIRE DISTRIBUTION

This is AMA’s flagship service. We have set up channels of distribution towards the journalists of the 54 African states, as well as to American journalists and European journalists covering emerging markets issues.
Our service includes:

Editorial advice

Localised editorial piece when needed

Distribution to the major print, broadcast and online publications along with industry-specific publications

Follow-up calls to secure interview request

Guaranteed distribution to Africa.com

Distribution to Bloomberg, LexisNexis and Thomson Reuters

Social Media Reach: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram

Full online monitoring and print monitoring when available. Includesreadership stats and Advertising Value Equivalent

Translation in French, Arabic and Portuguese available