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Every day, Tessa Dupuis walks into work through a door under a sign with the words “beauty and wellness.”
But throughout the pandemic, the owner of Tessa’s Beauty and Wellness in Weyburn has hated going into work at the salon. That’s because talk of COVID-19 and the politics surrounding it created a negative environment.
“My mental health was declining with the constant discussions and the arguments that could happen in the salon,” Dupuis told Gormley. “People would even agree on the same thing, but they were so hostile that they would still find anger in their conversation and leave with a negative feeling.”
She knew she needed to change the subject and decided to put up signs that said everyone is welcome at the salon but it’s a place free of discussions about COVID, vaccines and politics.
“I can’t make people not talk about COVID, but I can ask them to be kinder and be more aware of what they are saying here,” said Dupuis.
Not being in a good mental health state at the time, Dupuis was concerned about backlash that could hit her hard. However, she said the outcome was 100 per cent what she was hoping for.
On the second day of the signs being hung up in the salon, Dupuis said she learned something about a customer who has been a regular for seven years. The woman has a grandson who is almost the same age as Dupuis’ grandson.
“I never knew she had that new grandson because she was so consumed in COVID talk that she forgot about the joy that she wanted to share with people,” said Dupuis.
COVID does inevitably come up in conversations still. It could be about Christmas plans with family that were cancelled last year because of COVID. Now, they’ll change the subject to focus on something good like what else they did to embrace Christmas and how they best celebrated it.
“What was the positive that you experienced that day? Because even though we have some negatives, every day there is a positive and you just have to find that,” Dupuis said.
“When we start guiding people towards that way of talking, it was amazing that (within) their perception of just such a negative experience, they did find some silver linings.”
Now, her customers and employees walk out the door smiling.
“We all need something to look forward to and sometimes, knowing my own personal mental health, that one smile you get on the street corner, that’s what changes your day completely,” Dupuis said.