New North East Support Group

[osma]

Been trying to find a support group in the North East for my 20 year old son who developed alopecia in January 2013 and is struggling to come to terms with it - I have not had any luck, so have decided to start one in Newcastle, in the process of setting one up in Longbenton. Would love to hear if anyone is interested in attending.

[tessmac]

hi

i live in heaton so may be able to meet up with you but sometimes support groups just upset me too much. Having said that there is a north east group called BE BOLD who i think meet in newcastle city centre. bebold.org.uk. Maybe email them and join their group.

This condition is really hard for women and men. Your son probably needs to speak to some men in this position. On the alopecia uk site there used to be a mens zone but not sure if there is one on this site.

good luck but do contact me if you fancy meeting up for a chat.

tess

[Kay89leigh]

Hello! I live in Newcastle and have wanted to set up some kind of support network here for a while now but never knew how. I'm 24, had alopecia since I was 11 and lost all of my head hair when I was 19. I would love to come along to any meetings you manage to arrange and in the meantime would be more than willing to speak to your son if he needs someone to talk to/listen to him. I seem to have a different perspective on the condition to other sufferers so hopefully could help in some form. Hope to speak soon

[osma in reply to Kay89leigh]

Hi Kayleigh, Thank you for your message. I have just sent off the registration form for the group to AUK and set the first meeting date to be held at Oxford Centre, Longbenton on Thursday 23rd May @ 6.00pm - 8.00pm, so hopefully it will be advertised soon. I would really appreciate it if you are able to attend and share your views. I'm hoping it will be a sucess and future meetings can be arranged monthly. Although I am very new to Alopecia any help will be great to spread the word. I have been in contact with Tess who is fantastic and hopes to be there also. Hopefully you can make it to the first meeting, although I am having trouble trying to get my son to attend, he's at a very difficult age which Im sure you understand, but I still want to do something. Hope to see you there, Maria

[Kay89leigh]

Hey Osma ill put that in my diary and will definitely come along! I don't finish work until 5:30 though but ill come straight from there. Am I ok to spread the word through Facebook/Twitter for this? I totally understand about your son but I'm not that much older than him so if he wants to have a rant and speak to me he's totally welcome to. I understand a lot of alopecia sufferers are resentful and angry at some point. Really looking forward to the meeting!

[osma in reply to Kay89leigh]

Hi Kayleigh

Yes please spread the word, I dont have a facebook or twitter account so that is brill, the more people the better. I am working on posters etc today plus meeting with my son's consultant on Tuesday at Rake Lane, so hope to get info to all the dermatology departments, really looking forward to meeting you and thank you for your kind offer with my son (I'm working on him!) - Maria

[tessmac]

Hi Maria

How are the plans for the support group going?

My mobile broke so have lost your number. How is your son getting on. I have recently had my semi permanent eyebrows topped up and my technician said she would be happy to come and chat to people at the group at a future meeting.

See you soon

[osma in reply to tessmac]

Hi, its lovely to hear from you,

I completed everything we talked about and have lots to tell you, so cant wait to see you on 23rd. There should be about 12 - 14 people there that have confirmed, so I`m starting to get a little nervous now but at the same time cant wait to meet everyone. The people that have been in touch all seem very keen to share their experiences and seem very keen to attend, so I`m hoping it will go well. Its great about your technician, some people have informed they are unsure where to go for this so it will be great if she can attend sometime. Adam is very down at the moment, however we see the consultant on Tuesday so we will see what happens there. I just keep reminding myself of your advice informing its normal as he is still very new to alopecia so it does help. When I saw the consultant 3 weeks ago he was extremely supportive and has put the support group info on his website, he also took posters for the hospitals. I have got posters displayed in as many places as possible but will bring some on the night for people to take. Also the group is now displayed on AUK website,

Really looking forward to seeing you again, take care, Maria

[Kay89leigh]

Hello! At the last meeting you did mention somewhere that cut wigs for free but i cant for the life of me remember where it was! Do you have the details to hand? Look forward to the next meeting!

[osma]

Hi Kayleigh,

The one we mentioned is called 'The Boiler House' in Jesmond, who do the free wig service, the contact number is 0191 2812348, hope this helps.

Just to inform Adam tried to add you on facebook but an error message kept coming up, if you have a chance his surname is Osfield, just incase you can add him.

Look forward to seeing you soon,

Maria