Stepping Stones is a charity based in North Wales that offers free individual counselling, support, psychoeducational courses and resources as well as group work to adult survivors of child sexual abuse. We also support family members, carers and friends.
We are an independent and confidential service with around 20 professionally qualified counsellors working across the six counties of North Wales.
We aim to:
We offer a wide range of services to our clients and the wider community.
We currently have 23 counsellors working across the six counties of North Wales, who provide a tailored approach for clients and offer a choice of gender of counsellor, venue, and time. Counselling sessions are not limited to a set number of sessions per client, instead clients receive counselling until they feel comfortable and confident enough to end their sessions. This person-centred approach is vital to the ethos of Stepping Stones. Our counselling and support service is accessible to everyone engaging in our service, we also offer up to eight weeks counselling to family and friends of survivors.
In addition to counselling, we offer client support, psychoeducational courses, and group activities. For example, our Next Steps Group complements counselling and is open to all clients in service, referral is via our counsellors and is currently held monthly in Wrexham and Rhyl. Clients enjoy various activities including sewing, pottery, art, family days out etc. We also offer Maths, English and IT classes in conjunction with Coleg Cambria, and these are held weekly during term time.
We offer a range of courses as part of our Step into Wellbeing programme, including Stress Management, Resilience and Emotions and Understanding the Impact of Childhood Sexual Abuse. Art Therapy is offered to clients at different stages of counselling and allows individuals to explore their thoughts and feelings through a mixture of talking and creative methods, assisting clients who may find talking therapy not appropriate - this is offered individually or in small groups.
An Independent Sexual Violence Advisor (ISVA) service supports clients with a range of issues including practical and emotional support as well as assistance through the criminal justice system.
We work in partnership with the Live Fear Free Helpline, who offer our First Steps weekly phone call service to clients on the waiting list. Clients also have direct access to the Helpline Service via our website, 24 hours a day.
We provide appropriate information about our service with marketing materials and our professional awareness sessions enables us to provide bespoke education and knowledge regarding trauma.
