Andrew Foster

About me

This supervisor has been approved to provide supervision under the ACCESS TO SUPERVISION PROJECT


I have been working from a Consumer Lived Experience Perspective in Mental Health services since 2015. I get a lot of joy from lots of different things in life, but my particular favourites are music (particularly on more of the alternative/non-mainstream end of the spectrum) and being in nature (it just helps me to have 'perspective' and to feel connected to something much greater than myself, both in scale and in significance). I also have a great fondness for travel and have found what for me, feels like paradise, in Thailand. I like to travel there each year to enjoy the beautiful landscapes, rich culture and the kind and community spirited people.


This supervisor has been approved to provide supervision under the ACCESS TO SUPERVISION PROJECT. If you are a supervisee who has received an approval email/letter from the CMHL you may contact this supervisor for supervision for this project, then follow the stated processes for supervision payment.

My experience

I have quite a varied experience and expertise. My professional career began in 1996 as a High School Geography Teacher. I have an Honours Degree in Geography and a Post Graduate Certificate in Education. My career took me into education spaces in a range of different sectors and since 2015, I have been working as a Lived Experience Educator in Recovery Colleges, first at Mind Australia and then at Alfred Mental and Addiction's Health. I am still working there now and it's amazing to be part of the changes that are beginning to look and feel a lot more possible than a decade ago (and more so, when I was dealing with my own mental health and addiction challenges).

My current role/work

My core role is as a 'Co-Lead' of a Recovery College. Through the process of co-production and in genuine and equal partnership with other experts from clinical, lived experience workforce, service user and friends and families of choice perspectives, we offer courses that equalise power dynamics and bringing about new and different ways of engaging and learning with, and from, one another. As part of my work, I also work from a consumer consultant perspective from time to time, bringing the value of my own lived experience and the ever increasing literature and evidence base, to help shift and shape the nature of service delivery through sometimes uncomfortable, but always important and purposeful, conversations.

My training

I have quite an extensive training background. I mentioned my Degree and Post Graduate qualifications, but what has been most significant to me has been the many, many experiences I have had from attending recovery colleges as a student. I have attended courses that have explored (always from a recovery, strengths based and person driven perspective) on topics such as addictions, self-harm, suicide, compulsory treatment through to other ones where we look to engage with different ideas for understanding things. Two I have been particularly grateful for are on different ways of understanding what is sometimes called 'psychosis' and on exploring diverse views on what has dominantly been referred to as 'mental illness'.

My approach to supervision

A feature in my work, whether it be at the college, in supervision or any other related part of mental health, is to create a sense of shared 'safety' whereby we work closely together to create an environment (be it physical, intellectual or emotional-and sometimes all of them) of shared safety. This is a feature in how we engage in supervision. I am open to what works. If you wish to determine how we engage, that is great. If you prefer, we can determine and decide that, together. What is important is that we feel safe and we are true to the Consumer Perspective Supervision Principles. They don't have to be, but if you wish, these can be explored together to ensure that this feels central to our working together.