Changing Faces Scotland

Changing Faces Scotland provide life-changing mental health, wellbeing and skin camouflage services. We work to transform understanding and acceptance of visible difference, and campaign to reduce prejudice and discrimination.

We won’t stop until everyone with a visible difference or disfigurement is supported and respected.

Nearly one in five people in the UK self-identify as having a visible difference or disfigurement, and our research shows that they are often vulnerable to isolation, loneliness, social anxiety and low self-esteem. People who look different can face staring, harassment, bullying and hate crime. They can experience lowered expectations in school, problems getting work and stereotyping in the media. They are also severely under-represented in public life and decision-making.

Changing Faces’ five-year strategy from 2022 to 2027 builds on our incredible work over the last 30 years, since the charity was founded by James Partridge. In this time, thousands of people have received support that otherwise wouldn’t have existed, and there has been a positive shift in awareness of and attitudes towards visible difference and disfigurement.

However, we know that there is still a huge number of people with visible differences or disfigurement who are not receiving the support they need, especially around mental health and wellbeing, and that we could make a much bigger impact. We are determined over the next five years to get to a point where people with visible differences are getting the support they need met, and to make a significant and measurable change to public perceptions about visible difference.

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