About us

Stepping Stones North Wales 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. Our main office is Wrexham based however we work across the Isle of Anglesey, Conwy, Gwynedd, Flintshire, Denbighshire and Wrexham.

Our service is non-discriminatory with regard to race, gender, or ethnicity, we respect and embrace diversity and our service is free of charge to all.

Stepping Stones North Wales was established in 1984 and became a registered charity in 1995.

We want to achieve the following objectives:

• Protect and preserve the good health, both mental and physical, of persons who have been victims of sexual abuse and in particular by the provision of therapeutic intervention and individual and group counselling.

• Advance the education of persons working with those who have been victims of child sexual abuse.

All our counsellors are professionally trained to BACP – British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, upholding high standards of skill, expertise and ethical practice within the counselling professions framework.  All qualifications and training records for staff and counsellors can be viewed by contacting the office.

All counsellors have access to regular supervision and training sessions. They are here to help and support you.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

What is EDI?

Equality and Equity

EDI stands for ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’. Equality means treating everyone the same regardless of their experiences, background, or identity. We also strive to achieve equity. Equity recognizes that some people have different advantages and barriers in society – we don’t all have the same starting point. Equity means acknowledging these barriers and striving to address and overcome them.

Diversity

Reflecting, supporting and acknowledging the differences of experiences and identities between different people and groups.

Inclusion

Welcoming and valuing all people

How can Stepping Stones North Wales help?

Stepping Stones North Wales is an inclusive organisation. We believe that everyone has the right to be treated with respect and dignity and we want anyone who has experienced sexual violence to feel welcome and safe in accessing our services. We work to prevent discrimination in the services we offer, and are actively working to reduce barriers to ensure that everyone can access our specialist support. We take an intersectional approach – recognising that people may experience more than one form of discrimination, and overlapping and intersecting identities may mean people experience multiple barriers to accessing support. We are continuously working to improve access to our services, and shape our services according to the needs of the communities we serve.

What are we doing?

Diversity Working Group

We have established a Diversity Working Group to spearhead the changes and work we need to do in this area. With members from each team across the organisation, the group will ensure that our EDI work is embedded into every aspect of our work. The group has developed an action plan to guide their work over the next years, which seeks to improve equity, diversity and inclusion across the organization and address barriers that prevent people from being able to access the support they need.

LGBTQ+ Research Group

We are currently undertaking a research project on ‘Understanding the Service needs of LGBTQ+ Survivors of Sexual Violence in Wales’. The findings from this project will inform changes to our services, such that we can be more accessible to LGBTQ+ people who have experienced sexual violence.

Training

Our staff receive a wide range of training, including EDI training, LGBTQ+ Awareness Training and Neurodiversity Training. A number of our counsellors have also have taken part in a two day course on Working with Transgender and Gender

Clients feedback

We are passionate about sharing the knowledge we have with other service providers and to that end, our training department deliver expert courses on a range of topics, including: Working with Male Victims of Sexual Violence; Autism Awareness; Neurodiversity and Trauma; Cultural Awareness.

Research

We are always delighted to hear about opportunities to partner in research on sexual violence. We are dedicated to supporting the development of knowledge around sexual violence and sexual abuse. We are particularly interested in supporting and engaging in research, that examines the effects of and support needs of people and groups that have historically been minoritized and/or elided from such research.

Client Voice Work

At Stepping Stones North Wales we take the voices of all our clients seriously and do everything within our means to respond to feedback. We work with clients in Co-production to develop our services based on clients input and lived experience.

If you wish to know more, please email:

info@steppingstonesnorthwales.co.uk