"A Way Out: Miss Julie's School of Beauty" Tour & Info Session

A school to emancipate victims of human trafficking

Master Social Worker Julie Chapus has created Miss Julie’s School of Beauty, a safe haven for victims of human trafficking, and she and RWN invite you to a powerful discussion and tour of the school’s new space in downtown Rochester.

Please register by November 13. This event is free for RWN Members, $10 for guests.

Important Attendee Information: Attendees will meet under the clock tower, and convenient parking is available either on East Main Street or in St Joe’s Garage, which is attached on the 1st and 2nd floor of the Sibley Square.

A worldwide atrocity…and a local one

Join Julie for an important discussion of what human trafficking is, what it isn’t, and what it looks like. It is pervasive all over the world, including right here in Rochester. There are common misconceptions about this atrocity, and this talk aims to educate about the insidious, hidden, and often surprising facts.

A way out

Miss Julie’s School of Beauty will be a cosmetology school for victims of human trafficking, a safe environment for survivors with severely traumatic pasts to receive their education in the midst of a supportive community. The devastating truth is that even when trafficking victims escape their circumstances, there is a high re-entry rate to the sex industry. Hindrances to a successful exit are many. Miss Julie’s School of Beauty will create a hope and a future for victims of trafficking.

About Julie Chapus, LMSW

Julie Chapus is a licensed Master Social Worker, 2001. She has worked in the Rochester Psychiatric Center, Park Ridge Chemical Dependency Unit, and Westfall Associates as the Dual Diagnostic Therapist treating chemically dependent and mental health diagnoses. She saw a need for human trafficked survivors to have a stable and lucrative income through state licensure. She went to cosmetology school in 2016 in order to open up Miss Julie’s School of Beauty, and in 2021 gained her cosmetology instructor license.

Julie has taken her knowledge from the social work field and blended it with her training in cosmetology to create an in-depth class for a wide variety of professionals covering what trafficking is, what it looks like in our area, and what we can do about it.

Julie’s training was reviewed by a multi-disciplinary panel of experts, including some from FBI child exploitation task force and domestic violence experts Stop Abuse Campaign, coalitions against trafficking, and the medical field, and she has been given the green light across the board. In addition to training local salon professionals, Julie has provided training to the Global Public Health Association at RIT, Nazareth, and Roberts Wesleyan University, and multi-disciplinary professionals including psychologists, social workers, nurses, and criminal justice professionals.

More recently she has been asked to present at the Office of Mental Health Statewide Conference, November 2023. Additionally, Julie is working to combine resources across the county to support victims and create a permanent means of escape from trafficking through the first school of its kind in the USA.

Interested in becoming an RWN member or know someone who might be?
Learn more about membership options and how to join here. For those in job transition, contact membership@rwn.org to inquire about our Transitional Membership.

Thank you to RWN’s Community Partner, Action for a Better Community, and Corporate Partner, The UPS Store Baytowne, for their continuing support.

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