Peter Foster Counsellor

ABOUT

I provide counselling to individuals, couples and families at my consulting room in Hornsby or by visiting clients in their homes or other preferred locations such as residential care facilities or workplaces on Sydney’s Upper North Shore. I am registered to provide supports for NDIS participants.

How counselling can help
People often find that talking to a counsellor helps them to —

• Deal with a difficulties in a relationship (more …)


• Respond to domestic and family violence (more …)


• Clarify and make sense of something that has happened (more …)


• Solve a problem, devise a plan or make a decision (more …)


• Change a way of thinking or behaving which is causing problems (more …)


• Manage difficult feelings and emotions (more …)


• Cope with a major loss, life change or set-back. (more …)


• Find, analyse and act on information (more …)


• Enhance self-care (more …)

My approach
You are the expert on your life. With your experience, knowledge, skills and personal strengths, it is natural that you will have your own preferred ways of dealing with what concerns you. By talking together, we will carefully build a shared understanding of what you want from counselling, and decide how we can best work together to help you get what you want. I will always offer alternative ways of working for you to choose from, and I will keep checking with you to ensure our work is progressing as you would wish.

Experience

I have worked with individuals, couples and families across a wide range of cultures, ages, presentations and settings since 2008. Settings have included face-to-face counselling, telephone counselling, Skype counselling, group facilitation, community recovery (disaster field response). I have also provided critical incident stress debriefing, consulting, and training services to employers. The knowledge and insights I have gained over my previous career as a manager and accountant have been useful when helping clients deal with issues arising from their experiences in business, organisations and the workplace.

Working with Children

I am cleared by the Office of the Children’s Guardian to work with children. To verify this clearance, go to http://www.kidsguardian.nsw.gov.au/check or phone the Office of the Children’s Guardian on (02) 9286 7219. You will need to quote my full name (Peter Desmond Foster), my date of birth (20/05/1949) and my Working With Children Check Number (WWC0958853E).

I prefer not to work directly with children under the age of 8 years (unless conjointly with a parent or as a family member) as such work is best done using specialised approaches (using such aids as sand trays, selected toys and creative arts materials).

Professional affiliations and standards

I am a Clinical Member of the Psychotherapy and Counselling Federation of Australia and am listed on its National Register (PACFA Reg. Clinical 22515). Counsellors who are listed on the National Register must demonstrate that they meet PACFA’s standards of professional training and ethical conduct, have sufficient experience to deliver quality counselling services, undertake ongoing professional development and receive professional supervision of their work, and hold professional indemnity insurance.

SERVICES

Individual counselling. Individual counselling provides an opportunity to sit with someone who will hear and support you without judgment. Conversations with counsellors are confidential. They are calm, gentle and unhurried. They open up a space to express thoughts and feelings which may be unclear or difficult to describe. Taking the time to talk to a counsellor can lead to new ways of looking at things and this can lead to beneficial change.

Couples counselling. Couples counselling provides couples and individuals to talk freely about their concerns about their closest relationships . People who have used couples counselling report the deep sense of isolation and distress when they feel the person to whom they are most attached is drifting away, or the relationship is revealing disturbing aspects not previously noticed. Sometimes, the changes are not easily definable; at other times the differences are profound. Couples counselling provides one of the few opportunities to voice concerns, explore opportunities for change, and come to terms what may have to be accepted, in a supported, non-judgmental environment.

Family counselling. Family counselling provides a safe, neutral space where families can meet and be helped to talk about matters which are concerning all the members. It is the task of the family counsellor to encourage and ensure that every member of the family has an opportunity to voice their needs and concerns, and to tell how family interactions are affecting them, free of the constraints that can apply in natural family settings. When family members hear each other in this way, they often start seeing things in new ways and this opens up opportunities to make beneficial changes to the ways in which they interact with one another.

PREPARE/ENRICH is a program for couples who want to explore their relationships more deeply. It can be used as a preparation for taking the relationship to a higher level of commitment (such as marriage), or to explore differences which have become troublesome and are not well understood. Each partner completes an individual, online assessment questionnaire which returns a set of reports to me. I use these to give feedback, to facilitate a series of supportive conversations about important aspects of the relationship, and to introduce skills for promoting greater closeness and for dealing more effectively with the challenges of everyday life together. Find out more at the PREPARE/ENRICH website, which includes answers to a comprehensive list of frequently asked questions.

FEES

$120.00 for each session of around 60 minutes (individual, couple or family).

Seniors card welcome here
10% discount for Seniors Card holders.

Unless otherwise arranged, payment is made at the end of each session.

I accept payment by –

• Cash, cheque or card (Mastercard, Visa, American Express, JCB)


• Electronic funds transfer to BSB 062-225, bank account number 10328448


• PayID (from your mobile banking app) to my mobile number 0409 650 364

Counsellors and Psychotherapists are not included in the current Medicare rebate scheme. Individuals can only obtain a Medicare rebate through seeing Psychologists, Occupational Therapists or Social Workers by referral from a GP after the GP has completed a mental health assessment and prepared a Mental Health Plan. Only conditions arising from prescribed mental health disorders qualify for Medicare rebates. Relationship counselling does not qualify for Medicare rebates.

If you would like to talk about how I might be able to help you, please phone 0409 650 364 or email me at peter.foster@concordance.com.au. All contact is confidential.