Fiona Biggar

Simply Changing Management Team

The past:

I was born in Edinburgh (more years ago than I care to remember) and lived there until, aged 5, my family took the enormous step of moving to Africa where I spent my primary school years running free in Malawi having close encounters with wild animals large and small.

I returned to Scotland for my secondary education which was a massive shock to the system at first but I soon discovered that the loss of sunshine and the freedom of an open air life were ably compensated for by television and chocolate - neither of which had been available in Malawi. Fortunately for my eyesight and waistline I was pretty active too - cycling, riding and swimming competitively.

When I left school, I firmly believed that my career would be based around people. In support of that, I completed a degree in Psychology, but somewhere during the three years at University I lost sight of my goal of supporting others and ended up working in London, in the City, for a software house as a computer programmer. Over the next 2 decades I continued to work in IT for various financial institutions and over the years as I became more senior my career took me to roles where I was managing a large number of colleagues, mentoring and developing their careers and it felt that my creative and emotional needs were met by a career, which although not my initial intention, had actually proved to be a successful and rewarding choice that lined up with my personal beliefs and values.

Over the years, outside of work, I continued to pursue my interest in supporting others and trained as a person centred counsellor and also did some courses in NLP and CBT and I used these skills informally with friends, family and colleagues. Working through my coaching diploma with Simply Changing took things to a new level and I was filled with confidence and inspired to change my life radically and leave the security (and restrictions) of my job and to seek out a new self-employed career.

The present:

I am a Simply Changing graduate, an NLP practitioner, and have diplomas in hypnotherapy and CBT. I now work for myself and have a fantastic work life balance. I work as part of the Supervision team at Simply Changing, a job that I love. It is so rewarding to work with so many amazing and talented coaches on their journey through the diploma. I feel that it is such a privilege to share that with them and I learn so much daily from everyone I come in contact with through my job.

I am also really lucky to work for Adoption UK, both organising workshops and family events and as a parent buddy, which gives me enormous satisfaction too. I also do a lot of writing and have published a number of articles and workbooks. I live in Edinburgh with my husband and two children along with our pet Bernese mountain dog, my daughter's hamster, my son's tankful of fish and a cavalcade of guide dog puppies who come to stay with us for short periods while their trainers are on holiday.

Both of my children have additional needs, my daughter has Asperger’s and Dyspraxia and my son is adopted with complex emotional and behavioural issues stemming from his traumatic start to life. He is also dyslexic. But this is not who they are - these are merely background facts about them - they are not their defining characteristics and go nowhere close to describing the amazing individuals that they already are and are sure to become in the future.

The future:

Continuing to work with the amazing developing coaches and my inspirational colleagues here at Simply Changing. Giving even more support to adoptive parents through my work at Adoption UK both with 1:1 work and in my group workshops.

Working with my phenomenal children to help them to grow into the incredible human beings that they promise to be. Continuing to champion them and be their cheering section in everything that they achieve large or small. Looking after more and more guide dog puppies and seeing the reality of the positive changes these superb (and adorable) dogs make to people's lives. Getting my first book published (and hopefully my second and third!) Keeping on enjoying life and being wantonly curious about everything around me.

Some random facts about Fiona!

I had my own radio show at University called Talkback.
I have walked the West Highland Way, St Cuthbert's Way and Coast to Coast across the route of Hadrian's Wall.
I qualified as a lifeguard when I was 9.
I am incredibly organised (in fact my husband says that before he met me he prided himself on his organisational skills, but meeting me made him realise he was an amateur!).
I love being creative and problem solving and was once voted most likely to have a Blue Peter badge in my team at work, although I don't have one! In fact I knew my husband was the man from me on our first dinner date when I managed to get some caramel stuck in a bone china bowl that had belonged to my grandmother and together we constructed a tin foil sling suspended high above a pan of boiling water which slowly melted the caramel without destroying the precious bowl. Love at first resolution!