Counselling support

At Changing Faces, we offer confidential, one-to-one social, emotional and psychological counselling and support sessions to people of all ages in the UK with a condition, mark or scar that affects their appearance (a visible difference).

We know that having a visible difference can have an impact on your mental health and wellbeing. We have trained wellbeing practitioners who can provide guidance and support, over a series of sessions, to help you cope with your appearance-related worries and concerns.

Appointments are carried out over the phone or via video call, which means anyone from across the UK can access the service.

Read on for more information about the service. If you’re ready to submit an enquiry about accessing sessions, please click the button below to scroll down to our registration form:

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Social and emotional support for children and young people

Your practitioner will aim to build a trusting and compassionate relationship with you as a young person or with a child and your family, in a safe, confidential space. We offer up to 12 sessions. We also support parents to cope themselves and to provide help to their child.

This gives the opportunity to:

• Talk though worries and concerns and explore options.
• Gain greater understanding of the situation and see things from a different perspective.
• Cope better with difficult feelings.
• Build self-esteem and confidence and feel more positive.
• Cope with other people’s reactions and learn techniques to handle everyday situations like staring, questions and comments.
• Reach aims in everyday life, such as feeling comfortable socialising, going to work, attending school or developing relationships or friendships.
• Find out more about your condition and treatment options.

Counselling and support for young people and adults

Counselling and support sessions are for people living with a visible difference, focusing on mild to moderate mental health difficulties. We offer time-limited support with a focus on “here and now”.

We offer up to 12 sessions to give you an in-depth chance to reflect on the emotions, difficulties and challenges you might have around your visible difference.

To get the most from counselling and support at Changing Faces, your main issues need to focus primarily on the emotional and social effects of your visible difference on your life. Be prepared to talk about how your visible difference affects your mental health, wellbeing, social and public life.

You need to feel ready to fully engage in the sessions and able to commit to attending a regular appointment (weekly or every two weeks) between 9am and 5.30pm on a weekday.

Working with a practitioner enables you to:

• Gain a different perspective and gain greater insight into your situation.
• Explore your life challenges in relation to the impact of your visible difference and generate your own meanings and understandings of it.
• Consider ways you can engage with life more fully, with greater ease and with less struggle, and meet your goals and aims to live the life you want.

Whilst counselling and support can be extremely rewarding, it is not for everybody. It requires motivation and a willingness to examine yourself and change – the process is not always straightforward.

However, if you’re at the point where you’re willing to explore your life as honestly and openly as possible, then it is likely counselling and support might be for you.

How does it work?

There are three steps to beginning counselling and support:

1. You’ll start by having a call with our Support and Information Line to explore the best options of support for you at this time.
2. If counselling and support sessions feel like the right option, we will arrange an assessment to explore your needs with a practitioner. We will ask about your visible difference and the impact of this on your mental health and wellbeing, as well as explore any other issues you may have. The wait for an assessment is typically between one to three months.
3. Once agreed, your sessions will take place at the same time each week (or fortnightly). You might have up to 12 sessions depending on what it right for you – this will be agreed between you and your counsellor before you start.

All sessions are confidential.