Fiona Stinson
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This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Hello, my name is Fiona,
I specialise in walk and talk therapy. I love nature and being outside, it's always provided me a sense of space, time and calm away from the everyday demands of life.
Walk and talk therapy is effective for people of all ages and needs. You choose the paths we walk down, how far we walk down them, at what speed and whether you would like to stop to sit on a bench. Some clients prefer to follow a gentler pace and often find being surrounded by nature very reassuring. Other clients have found it to be a good alternative to being in a counselling room, as they have a sense of freedom and find it easier and more natural to discuss problems in a more relaxed way whilst walking.
Walk and talk therapy has numerous benefits, including physical, emotional, and mental benefits. It provides an opportunity to engage in physical activity while getting therapy. Walking in nature can reduce stress and anxiety, and promote relaxation. Being outside can help people to feel more grounded by being able to observe the world around them. When we move our bodies and shift our environment, we can think differently about aspects of our lives that have before seemed immovable.
As with traditional therapy within a room, my role is to facilitate your counselling journey. I do this by providing a welcoming, relaxed and non-judgemental space for you to explore your experiences whilst giving you my full attention and professional experience. I always seek to work alongside you and at a pace that suits you. I want you to come away from our sessions feeling as if you've been truly heard and understood. Through our sessions we will work together to reframe unhelpful thoughts and for you to gain empowerment in your own wellbeing.
Training, qualifications & experience
Experience:
Over the past twenty years I have worked in various professional roles including as a social worker and as a special educational needs officer for Local Authorities supporting individuals and their families through difficult times, helping them to find solutions to their challenges and to improve outcomes in their lives.
These experiences have strengthened my core values that include fairness and equality, compassion, integrity and collaboration. My personal beliefs centre around the essential need for everyone to be seen, heard and valued. These experiences have led me to retrain as a counsellor to be able to offer people more time and personalised support.
Training:
I am a fully qualified counsellor and psychotherapist with a Post Graduate Diploma in Counselling and Psychotherapy obtained from Leeds Beckett University.
My initial training is grounded in purist Person-Centred therapy; however, I work as an integrative counsellor.
Person centred therapy focuses on the clients' experience of themselves, rather than the counsellor being an “expert” in them. I will therefore focus on your potential and ability to find growth within yourself and I believe that, given the right conditions, you can reach your full potential and become your true authentic self. Being integrative means I draw from different theoretical modalities such as psychodynamic, cognitive behavioural and existential theory, alongside others, to enable me to tailor the counselling and therapy I provide to your specific needs.
Member organisations
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred).
Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision.
Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training.
All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£50.00 per session
Additional information
My first session:
I offer a free initial consultation. This is an informal phone call of around 20 minutes to give us the opportunity to talk a little about your needs, the way I work and to check that our schedules fit.
Following our initial conversation, I provide 50-minute counselling sessions at a rate of £50 per hour.
If you’re interested in counselling with me, please get in touch and we can arrange a free initial consultation.
I want you to feel confident in your choice to start sessions with me, so there's no obligation to book a follow-on session if it doesn't feel right for you.
When I work
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Further information
I offer individuals, over 18 years of age, long or short-term counselling working either face to face through ‘walk and talk’ sessions out in nature or online through zoom or by telephone.
Walk and Talk Therapy:
Walk and Talk therapy is when, instead of sitting in front of a therapist in a traditional therapy room setting, the session takes place outdoors walking side by side in nature.
I hold my walk and talk sessions in North Leeds in a location accessible by both car and bus. I work in an environment that has accessible paths for wheelchair users. There are opportunities to hire mobility scooters if required and accessible facilities are available. Please feel free to discuss any access needs you may have in our initial consultation.
These sessions may be of particular interest to new parents. I understand that it is often hard to find the time to commit to counselling when you are caring for a child, the walking element may allow you to carve some time out for yourself if it can fit with your child's nap times etc.
Online Therapy:
An increasingly popular option for those who are unable to make face-to-face counselling sessions for various reasons such as being a new parent, illness/injury, housebound, work commitments etc is video conference/chat counselling. It allows you to attend a session from the comfort of your own home which some people may find less daunting or more practical.
Even though we’re not in the same room, I can still help you to explore how you’re feeling, understand what you are going through and support you to make changes in your life if you need to.
I currently have some Monday daytime and Friday morning slots available for both walk and talk and online sessions.
