00:00 This came about as I'm the National President of Hair and Beauty Australia.
00:07 We're a national body, Melanoma Australia approached us and I actually said to our CEO,
00:17 "This is a very, very good program and we should get on board with it."
00:23 So consequently, we formed a partnership with TAFE New South Wales, CUNE and of course Melanoma Australia.
00:33 And from that, with a team of people, we grew a micro-skill which is becoming invaluable
00:41 because we're an industry, not just hairdressing but barbering, beauty therapists,
00:48 other allied industries like podiatry, people that just do pedicures and all,
00:54 they all need to know about this.
00:57 We have been subconsciously aware but now there's a micro-skill and now there's a lot of talk about it as well
01:05 and we were ever so lucky that Deborah Hutton actually helped and did work for our micro-skill in developing it,
01:14 which was really great because as we all know, she was also a victim of it, a high profile.
01:20 There's many victims of it but she was one of the high profile ones, yes.
01:24 It's a fascinating program because I think most Australians probably have, you know,
01:28 in many ways more intimate and regular contact with their hairdresser or their barber or their beautician
01:34 than their doctor, than their GP.
01:36 But obviously hairdressers are not doctors, so tell us what the training involves
01:40 and what the professionals here are learning.
01:44 Well, that's definitely right.
01:47 Hairdressers are not doctors.
01:49 I say we're hair doctors, not medical doctors, which is correct.
01:54 However, we're in very close contact with people.
01:58 We see their scalp, we see behind the ears.
02:01 There's a lot of places that we see that people can't see when they go to hairdressers or barbers, etc.,
02:09 even beauty therapists, massage, masseurs and all.
02:13 So what we tend to do when we have them in front of the mirror, we might be touching.
02:19 And we'll say, "Are you aware of that?"
02:21 If they weren't, we would say, "Well, it's probably good to go and see someone about it."
02:26 We're at the basin and we're combing the hair.
02:29 You can comb through and you can check and see if there's any lumps or anything like that.
02:34 Now, one thing with this micro skill we were very aware of that we did not want it to be a diagnosis skill.
02:41 We wanted it to be an awareness skill because we're not doctors, as you said originally.
02:49 We are professionals in another arena and we're not there to diagnose,
02:54 but we're there to give people encouragement of being aware and how to have a conversation.
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