Appointments

Your appointment may be during your visit to the specialist dermatology clinic for your condition. Your appointment can also be:

• face-to-face on a separate visit
• by telephone
• by video

How to get an appointment

This service is only available for people who we are already seeing in our specialist dermatology service. You can ask a member of the dermatology team to refer you.

Changing or cancelling your appointment

Email: [email protected]

Before your appointment

Please bring reading glasses if you need them.

Our language support page has information about having an interpreter at your appointment.

During your appointment

You'll meet a psychologist at your first appointment. Appointments with a psychologist usually last for about an hour. However, some appointments are 30 minutes only. You can talk about the impact of your skin condition on your life, and your treatment options.

After your first appointment, we may offer you therapy sessions.

Talking therapy

We may offer you 1-to-1 talking therapy sessions.

You'll usually have 6 weekly sessions.

We have an attendance policy to keep the wait time for talking therapy as short as possible. This includes information about what happens if you cancel or miss some of your sessions. If you are starting therapy in our service and have not seen this policy, please ask us for a copy.

Online group therapy

Online group therapy gives you a chance to talk to others living with a skin condition and learn ways to manage your wellbeing.

You’ll have up to 4 sessions. Groups can include up to 12 people, but they are often smaller.

These groups are for people living with:

• atopic dermatitis
• chronic actinic dermatitis
• hidradenitis suppurativa
• vitiligo

You can join the group if you are being cared for by our specialist dermatology service.

Please ask your doctor or nurse to refer you. You will also need an appointment with a member of the psychology team before joining the group.

During the sessions, you’ll have the chance to:

• meet others with the same condition
• share experiences
• support each other
• learn ways to manage your wellbeing

We use approaches such as acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT), which helps you manage thoughts and feelings and improve your quality of life.

Other therapy

If you do not need support for your skin condition but want to talk about other stresses affecting your wellbeing, we can recommend support.

This may be with a therapist in your local area or self-help resources.

After your appointment

Talking therapy

We'll give you a follow-up appointment 1 month after you finish 1-to-1 talking therapy.

We'll send a letter to your GP and the person who referred you when you have finished your therapy.