New Dallas Survivors Medical Training Institute Opens

Dr. And she quietly graduated thousands of cosmetology and hairdressing students from her schools in Dallas, Houston and Oklahoma City. They move on, with the appropriate certifications in hand, to make money in hair salons and salons. They can start over.

For the past decade, Dr. A has kept a secret about the training network she created. Dr. A, or Antoria Gillon, had to make sure that none of her students were found. They finally came to escape.

Gillon runs from the ordinary to the extraordinary. It is a non-profit organization that empowers people who had survived domestic violence, teaching them a skilled trade. “I really wasn’t in favor of trying to expose what we were doing if it would interfere with our mission,” said Gillon, 37.

She wants to create opportunities for people to emerge from a state of violence and become self-sufficient — just as she did.

The nonprofit is expanding, offering beauty training in three cities and teaching a new group of students how to work as medical assistants, MRI technicians and phlebotomists. Depending on the specialty, some programs last two weeks, while others require 18 months of training. The free programs are funded by sponsors and supporters of the nonprofit, grants, and income from hair and nail appointments.

On Tuesday, around lunchtime, the Buckner Terrace mall was taken over by women in pink, blue and black smocks, bustling back and forth between classes and shifts at Spa & Wake Med Spa, FOTE School of Beauty and Global Medical Institute. They were eager to see Gillon cut the ceremonial ribbon with large gold scissors from the Dallas Black Chamber of Commerce.

Gillon, surrounded by students, board members and chamber president Harrison L. Blair, stood outside the medical institute and explained the importance of her role as leader of the nonprofit organization.

“Those who look like me and come from where I come from are often overlooked and even more misunderstood,” Gillon said at the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Elisa Granados, a cosmetology student since October, came from Houston to comfort Gillon. When Granados started school, she was in a period of self-sabotage, she said. Gillon provided her with another perspective: What if now was her time for a change?

“I didn’t think about it that way,” said Granados, 30. “They really focus on us, on our well-being.”

Gillon purchased three buildings on Samuell Boulevard to house training programs. She started in cosmetology because she knew firsthand how profitable trading in this industry could be. In her first year of braiding her hair, she took home over $80,000 – an amount that changed the life of the 20-year-old mother of two.

Gillon said the expansion into the healthcare professions market was driven by an increase in the number of women applying to FOTE seeking work that better suited their higher education.

“Abuse doesn’t just happen in poverty,” Gillon said. “It’s not just people who lived in low-income areas.”

The medical school’s instructors are registered nurses, like Laverne Nyaidho, who retired from a career at Parkland Health to train medical assistants at the school three days a week. After years of doing hair at Gillon’s, she wanted to get involved with FOTE.

“The classes are going great and are interactive,” Nyaidho said. “I mean, it’s going well.”

To ensure the protection of his students, Gillon is in contact with various security organizations and travels frequently to meet with lawmakers in Washington, D.C., to obtain any resources he can for his students. It also works with its students’ future employers to confirm that their offices are adequately secured and to train employers on how to work with victims in their facilities.

“The workplace is very traumatic for anyone who has gone through something like this,” Gillon said. “Every time the door opens, they look: ‘Is that my abuser?'”

For incoming students who are actively fleeing domestic violence, the nonprofit offers long-term housing for mothers with children under three and pregnant women.

“We try to break down any barriers that arise before you even enter the program,” Gillon said.

The goal is for students not to return to any dysfunctional relationships, whether physical, emotional or financial, Gillon said. While some seek respite across Texas, many women come from across the country to leave behind domestic or marital violence. For some, the violence ended decades ago. All are welcome at Gillon, she said.

Students can earn money while they attend school by working in a medical school call center for a variety of affiliated medical practices. At Med Spa, employees or former students earn at least $65 an hour.

The majority, or 98%, of school students find jobs in their respective fields, while a minority find work in a new profession, Gillon said.

The only obligation that students graduating from vocational schools have is the obligation to help others in the future.

Freeing tuition was a conscious, fundamental choice for Gillon. One that you, as the sole owner of a license for classes, can undertake.

“I can choose whether I want to put a value on it and charge a fee or just give it away for free,” Gillon said. “I was more concerned with how much I could give away.”