Peter Foster

I began practising as a personal face-to-face counsellor in 2008. I have since worked with individuals, couples and families across a wide range of cultures, ages, presentations and settings, including face-to-face counselling, group facilitation, and the community recovery response to the South Queensland floods of 2011.

I made the transition to counselling toward the end of a 35-year career as a General Manager and Certified Practising Accountant in business. As an accountant, I was a volunteer trainer for a community-based financial literacy training program. This marked the beginning of my developing interest in helping and ultimately led me to obtain my professional qualifications in counselling.

I maintain a continuous program of professional development. Professional development activities completed over the past five years have included workshops and trainings in a wide range of counselling theories, modalities and contexts of practice.

Graduate Diploma of Counselling

Graduate Diploma of Relationship Counselling

Master of Applied Social Science (Counselling)

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My focal point for counselling is what the client wants from it. People are the experts on their own lives. They have their own experience, knowledge, skills and personal strengths. Given informed choices, people will select their own, preferred ways of dealing with the matters that concern them at any particular point of time.

I collaborate with my clients to help them —

• Identify goals that will promote desired change or resolution of their concerns
• Develop tasks, or strategies, that will provide focus for the therapeutic work
• Choose and carry out the activities that are designed to ensure that tasks are completed and goals are achieved

Successful therapeutic collaboration depends on continuous, open communication exchange about what is happening between client and counsellor, and the ways the client is experiencing the process and outcomes. Needs and priorities can change. Goals may need to be reset and approaches revised. I invite regular client feedback which is used to track and adjust the progress of the work and the effectiveness of the therapeutic alliance.