From September 5th to 9th 2022 all the Erasmus+ Project “SVOVE – The Social Value of VET”‘s partners were guests of the École d’Esthétique, Cosmétique & Spa Peyrefitte Estetique in Lyon, to settle the last steps of the project’s request.
The project is going to end and the partners are working hard to reach their goal: a complete and homogeneous syllabus of the socio beautician’s figure. And that is what they did in Lyon for 5 days.
Day 1, September 5th – Welcome and introduction
After a few months, it was a pleasure to be back working together. The beauty of working in a project like this one – as well as having a common goal – is also meeting new people with whom it is a pleasure to meet, so as to forge relationships that can also lead to new professional opportunities.
For this reason to immediately start working was so easy: we resumed the state of the art of the project and put the basis for the operation on the next four days by reading the results of our work in Thessaloniki. So we’re ready to go!
Day 2, September 6th – A day for discoveries
The second day opened our eyes, on the figure of the socio beautician in France and on Lyon. The French partners brought us a first, very useful testimony to understand the French panorama in the field of socio-aesthetic. In fact, in France the socio beautician already exists and cooperate with hospitals and institutions to give people in need beauty treatments. We met a representative of the Foundation Apicil. Foundation Apicil is a foundation recognized of public utility in 2004 that aims to fight against physical and psychological pain at alla ages of life. A way of doing this is by the work of socio beauticians.
So she showed us a video in which we could see all the steps of how a socio beautician work in an hospital: from taking charge of the persone guided by the medial team to the provision of the treatment.
At the end of the testimony, a very fruitful debate started: thanks to this concrete example we have been able to discuss in an even more useful way on what has been done so far, taking inspiration to make the necessary corrections where needed.
In the afternoon we went for a wonderful boat trip on the Saône river (one of Lyon’s river, the other is the Rhône): we saw the city from a different point of view, discovering hidden places and interesting sights.
Day 3, September 7th – Meeting a socio beautician and strolling around Lyon
At the third day of the meeting we met a socio beautician, Marie-Anne Conorgues. She presented us his long experience as a socio beautician, described her work in detail and brought us examples of particular cases she dealt with. It was an opportunity that enriched us all a lot, both from a professional and human point of view.
In fact, all these real cases brought by our French partner CNAIB, have allowed us to understand even more and even better how the contribution of the socio beautician can be important for the well being of people living with a precarious health condition (physical or psychological).
After Marie-Anne spoke Sonia Marinelli, Italian coordinator of Scuola La Verbena. She spoke about her experience in Italy, very different from the French one not so much in terms of methods and results, but in terms of how it is carried out. In Italy the activity of the socio beautician is still on a voluntary basis, there are no institutions that regulate it nor standardized courses that issue a qualification.
These differences made us discuss a lot. The result was a comparison that has further strengthened all the project’s work carried out in recent months.
In the afternoon we went for a guided tour of the city organized by the French partners. It was a precious opportunity to learn more about Lyon’s most famous monuments and to discover hidden corners that we otherwise would not have been able to observe. What a wonderful city hosted us!
Day 4th, September 8th – A day for case studies
Oh Thursday we got to hear several case studies. The first to tell us about her experience was Cinzia Zicchieri, an Italian beautician who has her own beauty center, has attended a course in socio-aesthetic, takes care of her clients who live in precarious health conditions and volunteers in hospitals in the area where she lives. Cinzia told us in a very discreet and delicate way the situations of the people who really on her treatments, to then describe how many benefits they derive from it.
The same was also true for the cases described by the Finnish partners, who like Cinzia take care of clients who, however, spontaneously or on the advice of acquaintances turn to them to get some relief from their uneasy condition.
The last speech of the day was by Laura Grilli, in those days still President of CEPEC – European Confederation of Professional Beauticians and Cosmeticians – (congratulations to the new president Anne Parkkinen). Laura showed us the form she uses to take care of a client who lives in a difficult condition. A more than complete document, essential for having a complete medical history and to be able to offer the best treatment.
Day 5th, September 9th – Closing of the meeting and greetings
The last day was dedicated to the collection of the informations shared in the previous days. We returned from Lyon with a wealth of experiences and opinions that will enrich our project even more, which we will complete by the end of October 2022.
Before saying goodbye, however, we were lucky enough to visit the Peyrefitte School: a school of aesthetics and make-up of the highest level, an example and a source of inspiration for all those who work in the sector.
The project is coming to an end, the last appointment will be in Perugia – Headquarters of Ecipa Umbria, leader of the project – to pull the strings of what has been done so far. The wish for all is to continue to work together in any case, to standardize and make uniform the work of all the socio beautician in Europe. Certainly an ambitious goal, but even closer thanks to the SVOVE Project.
