Changing Faces began its work in 1992 to help people with a visible disfigurement to reach their potential, free from prejudice or abuse.
Credit: Yakub Merchant for Changing Faces
The charity’s work includes supporting adults, children and families; training health care professionals and influencing the public and policy makers to create a fairer society for those who may look different.
The grant from the Garfield Weston Foundation was made to support Changing Face’s ‘empowering service’ for children and adults with disfigurements. These people are frequently exposed to intrusive attention and research shows that they are vulnerable to low self-esteem, feeling isolated, face teasing and ridicule with low expectations at school, problems getting work, and stereotyping in the media.
The empowering service, led by specially-trained practitioners in London and Sheffield, enables hundreds of people every year to access the emotional support, advice and life-skills training they need to live an active life in today’s appearance-focused society.
The Trustees recognise that the work of Changing Faces can be difficult to raise funds for, particularly from traditional sources such as individual donors and companies. The Trustees had confidence in the delivery of the charity due to its healthy track record of grant-reporting and awarded a grant over three years to underpin the charity’s vital service and to help give the organisation time to build a wider funding base.
“The Garfield Weston Foundation’s generosity came at a critical time as it gave the whole service a major boost as other funding came to an end – and has enabled us to sustain and develop our work with greater confidence – and we hope it will encourage other funders to support us too.” James Partridge, founder and CEO.