Our health team works directly with health and social care professionals, as well as health commissioners, politicians and other policy makers, regulatory bodies and other organisations to influence (mental) health policies for local communities across the UK.

As part of our "It's not just about surgery" campaign, we call on policy makers:

1. To provide better and more information to patients with disfigurements

2. To increase the awareness of disfigurement amongst all health and social care professionals

3. To provide better access to psycho-social therapies

4. To improve the quality of psycho-social therapies for people with disfigurements. 

Our health team carries out policy shaping activities concentrating on laws and regulations, public courses of action and public funding priorities in terms of education, advocacy and mobilisation of interests groups in healthcare. Together with people with disfigurements, we campaign for eliminating the physical and social barriers that prevent equality.

Health is a fundamental human right indispensable for the exercise of other human rights such as the right to housing, work, education, human dignity, non-discrimination and access to information. These and other rights and freedoms address integral components of the right to health. Every human being is entitled to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of health conducive to living a life in dignity. Evidence shows that for many people with disfigurements, the full enjoyment of the right to health, including mental health, still remains unrealised. This is, amongst other reasons, because of a limited understanding of the difficulties of living with disfigurements amongst health and social care professionals and a lack of access to psychological therapy services.

The right to health, including mental health is positive human right, included in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (UN, 1976) and the European Social Charter (EU, 1961). ‘……respect for economic, social and cultural rights, including the rights to health, can only be realised progressively, within the limitations imposed by the availability of public resources.’ (FCO 2006 Human Rights Annual Report, p 233). At Changing Faces, we are very much aware of the limited availability of resources to increase the understanding of disfigurement and to improve access to psychological therapies. However, we consider mental health as equally important as physical health which should be reflected in the availability of resources for mental health services.

Read more on: Policy - Improving Existing Mental Health Services

Read more on: Realising these Objectives – Our Consultancy Services