Alopecia Café Welcome to the Alopecia Café A place to chat to people affected by alopecia in a friendly, relaxed environment. Alopecia UK recognises the value of meeting others affected by hair loss. Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, our face to face support groups continue to be cancelled. We will continue to review our face-to-face groups but in the meantime we have created new ways to continue to provide peer support. We have now launched the Alopecia Café – an online meeting space to meet others, share experiences and talk about ways you can manage your alopecia. We are open to everyone with all types of hair loss. We are hosting two types of meetings, one for adults (18+) affected by alopecia, and another for parents/carers of children with alopecia. Meetings take place every month. We offer both daytime and evening meetings for our Adult meetings. Parent meetings are evenings only. What is the Alopecia Café? Imagine going to the café with a friend and catching up over a cuppa – well that’s what the Alopecia Café is all about. It’s a friendly, informal online get-together to meet others with alopecia. We know that talking to others can help; having the opportunity to share experiences, get advice and information and just generally feel less alone in your journey with hair loss. Alopecia Café will be hosted on Zoom. You will need to have your camera on during the meeting (so we know you are you!). How do I join a Café meeting? You will need to complete a Zoom registration form for each meeting you wish to join. You will be asked a few questions about yourself and the type of alopecia you have. It helps us to know who is joining each session. If we have a large number of people come along to the café, we may try to group people who have the same type of alopecia. You also need to read our Alopecia Café rules. These will be sent to you prior to joining the meeting but you can read them here too. Having rules ensures the Alopecia Café is a safe and supportive environment for all. What should I expect from an Alopecia Café meeting? At the beginning of each Alopecia Café session you will be introduced to the Alopecia UK hosts! We will make you feel welcome and run through some basic housekeeping. If our café is busy enough, we will then split up into smaller ‘tables’/rooms of up to 8 people so you won’t be speaking to a large group of people at once! We try to group people based on type of hair loss or other characteristics so you have things in common but we cannot always do this. There will then be the opportunity to chat to and listen to others affected by hair loss. You can ask questions, answer questions, receive advice, give advice and hopefully come away from the meeting feeling more confident about your alopecia. All of this is done from the comfort of your own home, perhaps with a recommended cuppa and biscuit! We know that it can be nerve-wracking to meet people for the first time. Some attendees of our initial online sessions have told us they felt nervous logging-on but were very glad they joined. If anyone is feeling particularly nervous about joining a session, feel free to contact the AUK Team in advance and we can try to reduce any nerves you may have. Upcoming Café meetings available for registration now! Alopecia Café meetings for ADULTS If you are an adult (aged 18+) with alopecia you can join us for a friendly and informal chat on the dates below: Monday 12th April 2021: 1:00pm - Register here Monday 26th April 2021: 8:00pm - Register here Monday 10th May 2021: 1:00pm - Register here Monday 7th June: 1:00pm - Register here Monday 14th June: 8.00pm - Register here Monday 28th June: 8:00pm - Register here Monday 5th July: 1:00pm - Register here 24 spaces available on a first come first served basis Alopecia Café meetings for PARENTS If you are a parent/carer of a child with alopecia you can join our online parents group. Thursday 29th April: 8:00pm - Register here Thursday 27th May: 8:00pm - Register here Thursday 24th June: 8:00pm - Register here 16 spaces available on a first come first served basis