Paul Mitchell Schools and University of Nebraska - Lincoln Team Up to Create Self-Empowerment, Anti-Bullying Curriculum

Winn Claybaugh, dean and cofounder of the nationwide network of Paul Mitchell cosmetology schools, and Dr. Susan Swearer, a national and international expert on bullying prevention and intervention, recently announced the formation of a partnership between Paul Mitchell Schools and the University of Nebraska – Lincoln (UNL). Their new N-Lighten program will produce an anti-bullying, self-empowerment curriculum for the Paul Mitchell Schools, focusing on both prevention and intervention. The partnership will also create a lifelong learning community synergized around the relationship between service and research and a shared passion for self-empowerment, healthy relationships, and anti-bullying initiatives.

Swearer notes that bullying negatively impacts three out of four students during their school years. Psychological consequences include depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, antisocial behavior, and feelings of helplessness, anger, and frustration — feelings that can last into adulthood. Bullying also contributes to a negative school climate, which is connected to lower academic functioning and dropout.

“Every parent wants the absolute best for his or her children,” Claybaugh says. “When prospective students step into a Paul Mitchell School, their parents are entrusting us with the safety and security of their son or daughter. We take that responsibility very seriously. Our partnership with Susan Swearer, who has spent her professional career studying these behaviors, puts the world on notice that Paul Mitchell Schools are committed to not just teaching the skills of cosmetology but also the skills of life, leadership, and happiness. This is an opportunity for Paul Mitchell Schools to raise awareness that bullying and harassing behaviors cannot be tolerated in the society we live in.”

The N-Lighten program will start with a centrally located outreach training hub for bullying prevention and intervention training. Combining messages from Claybaugh’s book, Be Nice (Or Else!), with evidence-based approaches that teach healthy thinking and relationship skills, the program will be disseminated to the 100-plus Paul Mitchell Schools and eventually to millions of high school students nationwide. Trainings will be held at UNL for Paul Mitchell School owners and instructors, and a parallel distance education course will be created to expand the training to those unable to travel to Nebraska.

The N-Lighten program will be the inaugural initiative within the new UNL Empowerment Initiative, founded by Dr. Susan Swearer. The Empowerment Initiative is part of the Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families, and Schools (CYFS), a UNL “Program of Excellence” that focuses on collaborative partnerships between the university and community professionals. CYFS is comprised of more than 100 faculty affiliates and 70 graduate student affiliates with significant expertise in youth mental health, social and educational programs, and effective school-based interventions. The Paul Mitchell Schools initiative will benefit from the infrastructure already in place within CYFS, comprised of several support units whose staff holds extensive experience developing, executing and evaluating large-scale, school and community programs.

Components of the curriculum for the first year include:

•  N-Lighten yourself; N-Lighten your mind; N-Lighten your school; and N-Lighten the world.
• Training sessions for Paul Mitchell School owners, professionals, and students. All staff members will leave the training as Certified N-Lighten Trainers—empowering them to share the message by taking the curriculum forward in their work in Paul Mitchell Schools and in their local communities.
• Conducting outreach to further disseminate the goals and objectives of the N-Lighten curriculum, reaching not only Paul Mitchell Schools but also continuing to share the important message with the general public and the academic community while elevating the contribution to bullying prevention and intervention for both UNL and the Paul Mitchell Schools.

In the future, the UNL–Paul Mitchell Schools partnership will disseminate the training to public schools around the country and provide service learning for hundreds of thousands of high school students in local Paul Mitchell School communities. Ultimately, the goal of the partnership is to continue to build and disseminate the important bullying prevention and intervention work already underway by both the University of Nebraska – Lincoln and the Paul Mitchell Schools.

About the University of Nebraska – Lincoln

The University of Nebraska – Lincoln is the primary intellectual and cultural resource for the state of Nebraska, serving the campus and community members in significant ways. Founded in 1869, the university is one of the nation’s leading teaching institutions, one of the top 50 American universities in granting annual doctoral degrees, and a research leader with a wide array of community-based and culturally relevant projects. UNL prides itself on being a socially relevant and forward-looking public research university. In Fall 2011, for the seventh-straight year, the University of Nebraska – Lincoln made U.S. News and World Report’s annual evaluation of America’s Best Colleges’ Top 50 list of Public National Universities, placing it among the top one-fourth of all public universities. It is ranked near the top third of all public or private national universities in the United States. Visit www.unl.edu for more information.

About Paul Mitchell Schools

At Paul Mitchell Schools, we believe that education is an adventure and the learning experience needs to be fun. Our instructors—we call them “learning leaders”—are trained to draw out the artist in every student and prepare them to compete in the real world. Through our annual “FUNraising” campaign, we’ve raised and donated millions of dollars in support of many charitable causes. We’ve built homes with Habitat for Humanity, fed thousands of African orphans, and supported the victims of AIDS, breast cancer, homelessness, abuse, and hundreds of other causes.

Established 30 years ago, the Paul Mitchell network is nearly 100,000 salons strong and in 81 countries worldwide; every professional hairdresser knows the Paul Mitchell name. Now, with the arrival of Paul Mitchell Schools, we’ve taken the world of cosmetology education by storm!Visit www.paulmitchell.edu to learn more.