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Port Stephens.NSW

katherine@bluripples.com.au
02 4982 9781
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Blu Ripples Clients Servicing NSW Australia and Beyond

Our Clients

Helping clients achieve personal and professional growth for over 20 years, we can help you, too!

Individual Clients

A Space To Be Heard and Understood

Through lived experiences, 22+ years of private practice experience incorporating
15+ years of extensive counselling, and multi-disciplinary qualifications; together
we can help you process emotional and cognitive hurts, navigate career
challenges and, build a bridge for personal and professional growth

From the beginning, our clients have described Blu Ripples® as a clinically informed sanctuary, a warm, authentic space where they feel genuinely connected, understood, and free to be heard.

As someone who has navigated life’s own calm seas, ripples, rough surfs, and tidal waves, I understand the weight of navigating these waters alone. This lived experience is why I developed the Foster’s Life Transition, Ripples, and Growth Model, a proprietary framework anchored in decades of personal and professional reflection, development, and philosophy, alongside our bespoke and peer-reviewed self-care products. I created this professional sanctuary to provide you with a structured, supported path to express yourself freely, process your journey, and find your footing again.

This overview captures the core pillars of Foster's Life Transition, Ripples and Growth Model. © 2026 Katherine Foster (t/as Blu Ripples®) All Rights Reserved.
Deepen your understanding of the Foster's Life Transition, Ripples and Growth on Our Story and Mission Page.
Learn More About Foster's Model

While anchored in heart and compassion, our partnership is a professional service. It is held within a framework of strict ethics, duty of care, and clear boundaries, ensuring your support is both emotionally safe and strategically grounded.

This is reiterated by our clients; for example:

“When I first met you, I instantly thought you were a genuine, kind, warm, and welcoming person.”

Early Career Client

“I have told you things that I have never told another person; it feels good to let it out—thank you.” Personal Counselling Client

Our Approach:
Individual Clients

Specialist Support for Individuals Navigating Life’s Ripples,
Rough Surfs, and Tidal Waves

Human Connection meets Professional Depth

While our current primary focus is on Specialist Career Counselling (15+ years), our professional history encompasses a depth and breadth of experience in Personal Counselling for children, adolescents, adults, and couples, as well as EAP (Employee Assistance Program) services, provided both directly and as a specialist contractor.

This enables us to meet you exactly where you are, in your current mindset and emotional well-being, regardless of the ‘weather’ or environment you are currently facing. We act as a professional support partner, utilising various standardised and proprietary therapies, models, and tools to help you process life’s ripples, while facilitating learning, growth, clarity, and evolution.

Together, we work as a collaborative partnership. While we may gently challenge you to see beyond the surf, we never take the oars or seek to control your vessel. Instead, we empower you to navigate your unique path, helping you regain the confidence to steer your own vessel with grace and insights through life’s ripples and choppy waters.

In short, our partnership is informed by a comprehensive understanding of the ‘whole person’—supporting you, not just as a professional, but as an individual navigating life’s complexities.

Practice Insights:
Individual Clients

Proven Pathways: Insights from 20+ Years of Practice

Specialist support for individuals navigating life’s ripples and tidal waves.

Career Counselling

Since 2009, we have delivered specialised career counselling support for teenagers (14 years 9 months+), youth, and adults across the entire career life span, navigating immediate or ongoing transitions. Using a multi-disciplinary lens, integrating career development, counselling, and HR, we have helped individuals align their identity with their career goals and integrate their personal and professional narratives. Through one-on-one talk-therapy focused methodology, we have addressed individual indecision, considerations, limitations and refined execution strategies. We have helped clients establish clear baselines and clarify their goals and direction, empowering them to confidently command and steer their own vessel toward their chosen destination.
View Career Counselling

Career Consulting

For over 22 years, we have captured and delivered professional employment documentation for clients across the entire career life cycle—from students to executive management and specialised experts. We have supported time-poor professionals and those who find it difficult to identify and promote their own positions, achievements, secondments, and projects. Through in-depth consultations, we have extracted factual data and translated diverse narratives into high-impact Resumes, Academic CVs, and Selection Criteria. By aligning their identity with organisational criteria, we have helped clients build confidence and provide the professional evidence needed to demonstrate their value in compelling employment documentation.
View Career Consulting Services

Career Planning and Reports

Since 2009, we have generated tailored career planning and development reports that transform personal and professional narratives into actionable strategies. By integrating psychometric instruments, we have helped clients uncover untapped potential and identify opportunities - empowering informed decision-making and strategic growth. Some of our specialist reports include Labour Market Analysis and formal benchmarking against industry requirements, remuneration, and pay scales to provide the diamond standard of insight for job searching, employment negotiation, professional growth, and development. We have helped clients determine and decipher their potential return on investment, providing the clarity needed to navigate education and career transitions with total confidence.
View Career Reports and Plans

Defence and PEAP Services

Since 2018, we have delivered specialised support to Defence partners navigating career and employment challenges due to relocations—whether it’s commencing a career, re-entering the workforce, or embarking on a new professional chapter. We have provided a safe and supportive environment to explore the unique impacts of the Defence lifestyle, helping partners shift from feeling ‘scattered’ to feeling assured and strategically prepared. By identifying transferable skills, analysing labour market data, and preparing professional documentation, we have helped partners reclaim their direction and purpose. Our tailored approach aims to ensure you gain the employment and career assistance you need, the clarity, and the confidence required to manage a successful, portable career on your own terms.
View PEAP Services

Psychometric Profiling (Assessment)

Since 2005, we have utilised professional psychometric instruments to help individuals identify personality preferences, subconscious patterns, and the functional impact of stress. By translating complex data into actionable insights, we have provided an objective foundation for personal growth, career redirection, and professional development. Whether applied to children, adolescents, or adults, our ethical approach bridges the gap between uncertainty and self-awareness. We have helped transform friction into alignment, provided a common language for shared understanding, and a structured foundation for your sustained evolution.
View Psychometric Profiling

Outplacement

Since 2015-16, we have provided expert outplacement and transition support for individuals navigating redundancy, whether voluntary or compulsory. We have supported clients through the immediate tidal wave of change, helping them move from uncertainty to solid ground. Leveraging our tri-level expertise and experience in Human Resources, Counselling, and Career Education and Development, we have assisted individuals in identifying mental health considerations and symptomology, reclaiming self-belief and confidence, and transforming uncertainty into redefined goals and forward movement into the next chapter of life.
View Outplacement Services

Self-Care and Wellbeing

True resilience is more than just "getting through." Drawing on 22 years of accumulative experience in Counselling and HR, I have helped clients move beyond the "fluff and bubbles" to establish adaptive strategies and baselines for well-being. My approach is battle-tested through life transitions, personal loss, and grounded in theoretical frameworks, ensuring your toolkit remains effective in the "eye of the storm." These fluid self-care plans are supported by my peer-reviewed workbook and card set (reviewed by Dr. Gaye Cameron, PhD. Psych), a resource valued by the community and Allied Health practitioners for its scalability and practicality. I have used and created these resources to provide a 3:00 AM "starting point" for immediate guidance, treating well-being not as an indulgence, but as a strategic necessity. By ascertaining the strategies that work for you, you will have the vessel, map, and tools to help you effectively navigate life's storms back to still waters or the shore.
View Self-Care Sessions

Personal Counselling

Personal challenges and trauma don’t stay neatly stored in a box. Internal and external "storms" can disrupt your happiness, well-being, and workplace performance. Since 2009, I have provided a supportive, empathetic, and grounded space for children (4+), adolescents, individuals, couples, and families to process the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that hinder progress. Drawing on a legacy of practice across the human lifespan, I understand how current stability or instability is influenced by the past - including social context, family of origin, and intergenerational dynamics. In my current practice, I have and continue to provide a supportive environment for clients (15+) where we engage and work together to identify and discuss presenting situations, baselines, and goals, clarifying the internal and external challenges you are facing in the present moment. By fostering insights, we aim to break, process, and discuss recurring cycles and barriers impacting your decision-making, life, and boundaries, while building practical strategies to navigate transitions and develop tools to help you move through life’s ripples with confidence. Above all, I aim to provide a safe space for you to be fully present, creating the opportunity to simply be, to breathe, decompress, and finally be heard - as one client shared: "You provided me with the opportunity to speak; no one has ever done that for me before."
View Personal Counselling

Corporate Clients

Specialist Support for Organisational Transitions and ‘Curve Balls’

Drawing on 30+ years of professional history, from HR and administrative foundations to
22+ years in private practice, together we can identify your challenges and implement ,
a strategy to navigate the 'curve balls'

As a long-term business owner, I understand that behind every system and strategy are people, employees, clients, suppliers, key stakeholders and the families who support them, and even the best-designed workplaces can be disrupted by “Curve Balls” for example:

  • Critical Incidents
  • Organisational Stressors, Change and Restructures
  • Psychosocial Risks and Workplace Conduct
  • Disputes, Legal, and Tribunal Pressures
  • Workforce Capability and Generational Friction; and 
  • Other Internal and External Pressures

Proven Support for Diverse Organisations

Since establishing my private practice in 2003 and further diversifying our specialist services in 2009, and 2017, Blu Ripples® has provided professional support to a wide spectrum of organisations, from microbusinesses and partnerships to large-scale multinationals.

By integrating my foundational background in HR and Administration with over 20 years of accumulative counselling and career consulting experience, we have helped Sectors such as Education, Healthcare, Automotive, Defence, Retail, Religious Ministries, and the Non-Profit sector support the well-being, growth, and transition of their teams through:

 
Workplace Counselling and Well-being
  • Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)

  • Emotional Well-being Forums

  • Grief, Loss, & Bereavement Support 

Career Counselling Services Career Counsellor Katherine Foster
 
Career Counselling, Consulting and Assessments 
  • Employee Assistance Programs (EAP)

  • Emotional Well-being Forums

  • Grief, Loss, & Bereavement Support 

For a detailed overview of these programs and the specific industries we serve, please visit our Workplace Counselling and Well-Being page (coming soon).

De-Identified and Composite
Case Studies

Specialist Support for Organisational Transitions and ‘Curve Balls’

Drawing on 30+ years of professional history, from HR and administrative foundations to
22+ years in private practice, together we can identify your challenges and implement ,
a strategy to navigate the 'curve balls'

Employee Assistance Program (Composite)

Delivered individual and small-group workplace counselling services, both on- and offsite, for organisations ranging from local small businesses to multinationals. By focusing on the human element of workplace challenges, we have helped individuals and teams navigate interpersonal difficulties, partnership disagreements, performance hurdles, and personal issues impacting work. Through active listening and support during these transitions, we have helped restore confidence and empowerment, ensuring the employee’s voice is heard, valued, and respected.
Connect with Blu Ripples

Emotional Well-being Forum (De-Identified)

Delivered a tailored emotional well-being forum for 65 national delegates and VIPs from a prominent national not-for-profit. We addressed psychosocial factors such as grief, stress, depression, and anxiety, facilitating high-level engagement through guided visualisation and evidence-based tools (DASS21). By guiding participants through reflective activities and bespoke self-care planning, we equipped the group with practical tools to manage workplace pressures, and enhance personal resilience.
Connect with Blu Ripples

Grief, Loss, and Bereavement (Composite)

Delivered compassionate, on-site, individual and small-group bereavement support to work colleagues and association members from small to multinational organisations and sporting associations, following the death of a colleague, team member, or loved one due to natural causes, medical events, or suicide, helping participants navigate the complexities of grief and loss.
Connect with Blu Ripples

Career Counselling & Consulting (Composite)

Delivered tailored, one-on-one career support to individuals across multiple industries, providing a safe, non-judgmental space where each individual’s voice and aspirations are truly heard. Focusing on the whole person, we help individuals navigate the emotional side of career change while practically updating profiles, highlighting transferable skills, and optimizing their professional presence. By aligning personal values with career goals, we empowered individuals to pursue internal and external opportunities with a renewed sense of clarity and confidence.
Connect with Blu Ripples

Outplacement Services (Composite)

Delivered tailored outplacement services to multiple sectors such as small business, religious ministries, national, retail, and automotive organisations. We listened to and guided employees through the psychosocial impact of redundancy, providing a structured roadmap and transition toolkit to empower their move into new career or academic pathways.
Connect With Blu Ripples

PEAP Services (Composite)

Delivered confidential career and employment services through Defence’s PEAP program, supporting partners through the unique stressors of the Defence lifestyle. By tailoring our guidance, we focused on highlighting transferable skills, knowledge, and creating professional employment documentation while navigating the emotional and practical hurdles of the career life cycle. We provided a safe, non-judgmental space that empowered partners to secure sustainable, meaningful work aligned with their individual needs, regardless of their posting.
Connect With Blu Ripples

Psychometric Assessments

Delivered standalone and integrated psychometric assessments to businesses and organisations through services such as career counselling, planning, and outplacement. By combining objective data with a human-centric approach, we provided clients with deep insight into professional identity, strengths, and potential. These assessments served as a foundation for talent acquisition, succession planning, and workforce development, ensuring training outcomes were aligned with both individual capabilities and organisational goals.
Connect with Blu Ripples

Locations We Serve

National Reach. Personal Connections. Communities We Support
Our Clients Blu Ripples NSW Australia

Distance should never be a barrier to help, progress, or evolution.  At Blu Ripples®, we aim to provide a consistent, supportive, grounded, and safe space for you to engage in meaningful dialogue, change, and transformation. This is offered face-to-face at our home-based Medowie office, where you can experience the natural tranquility of our two-acre setting, or via established online and telephone consultations.

A Pionner In Telehealth

Professional Telehealth Support Since 2009

While many have only recently transitioned to digital spaces, Blu Ripples has been a pioneer in online and telephone service delivery since 2009. We possess extensive experience delivering professional counselling and consulting services online. Having initially utilised Skype in our early years, and more recently Zoom and MS Teams, our long-term involvement in this space allows us to provide an experience as impactful as an in-person session.

Rest assured, our industry-recognised and evidence-informed care is available to you wherever you are located, provided you have reliable telecommunications available in your area.

Our Geographic Reach

National Presence, Local Heart: Established 2003 | Rebranded 2009

While our professional roots were established in Sydney, the practice is now firmly based in Port Stephens, servicing local areas including Newcastle, Maitland, the Hunter Region, and surrounding areas. The “ripples” of our practice are truly national, having provided support across New South Wales (NSW), Victoria (VIC), Queensland (QLD), South Australia (SA), Canberra (ACT), Tasmania (TAS), the Northern Territory (NT), and broader intrastate and interstate regions.

Specialised support includes:

  • Career Counselling (including Professional Identity)

  • Career Consulting 

  • Career Planning & Reporting

  • Psychometric Profiling (Assessments) 

  • Outplacement Services

  • PEAP (Defence: Partner Employment Assistance)

  • Self-Care & Well-being; and 

  • Personal Counselling

NSW Regions and Communities

NSW Focus: Supporting Coastal, Regional, and Rural Communities | Since 2003

Within New South Wales, we have a long and proud history of supporting diverse populations and communities – from coastal hubs to rural heartlands. Our practice is deeply committed to its aim of providing a safe and respectful space, having worked extensively with individuals from diverse multi-cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds across the spectrum of our professional specialised services.

NSW Regions and Communities

Anna Bay, Corlette, Fern Bay, Heatherbrae, Karuah, Lemon Tree Passage, Mallabula, Medowie, Nelson Bay, Raymond Terrace, Salamander Bay, Salt Ash, Shoal Bay, Soldiers Point, Swan Bay, Wallalong

Aberglasslyn, Braxton, Cessnock, Dungog, Clarence Town, Greta, Largs, Muswellbrook, Raworth, Rutherford, Scone, Singleton, Thornton

Belmont, Boolaroo, Charlestown, Cardiff, Cameron Park, Coal Point, Cooranbong, Eleebana, Glendale, Kotara, Kilaben Bay, Marks Point, Rathmines, Toronto, Valentine, Warners Bay, West Wallsend

Bungwahl (near Myall Lakes and Seal Rocks), Cooperabung, Coffs Harbour, Forster, Hawks Nest, Port Macquarie, Taree, Tuncurry, West KempseyMid North Coast: Bungwahl (near Myall Lakes and Seal Rocks), Cooperabung, Coffs Harbour, Forster, Hawks Nest, Port Macquarie, Taree, Tuncurry, West Kempsey

Newcastle: Adamstown, Beresfield, Birmingham Gardens, Broadmeadow, Carrington, Elermore Vale, Fletcher, Georgetown, Hamilton, Hamilton East, Hexham, Islington, Lambton, Mayfield, Maryville, Merewether, New Lambton, Stockton, Tighes Hill, Wallsend, Waratah, West Jesmond, Wickham, WhitebridgeAdamstown, Beresfield, Birmingham Gardens, Broadmeadow, Carrington, Elermore Vale, Fletcher, Georgetown, Hamilton, Hamilton East, Hexham, Islington, Lambton, Mayfield, Maryville, Merewether, New Lambton, Stockton, Tighes Hill, Wallsend, Waratah, West Jesmond, Wickham, Whitebridge

Blacktown, Baulkham Hills, Canterbury, Castle Hill, East Lakes, Emu Plains, Glenwood, Kellyville, Kings Langley, North Avoca, North Ryde, Oatlands, Parramatta, Petersham, Picnic Point, Quakers Hills, St Leonards, Strathfield, Sydney CBD, Seven Hills, Rouse Hill, Ryde, Warriewood, Winston Hills, West Pennant Hills

Blue Mountains – Katoomba; Orana Region – Dubbo; Riverina – Temora and Wagga Wagga; Southern Highlands – Yerrinbool; Warrumbungle Shire – Coonabarabran and BugaldieBlue Mountains – Katoomba; Orana Region – Dubbo; Riverina – Temora and Wagga Wagga; Southern Highlands – Yerrinbool; Warrumbungle Shire – Coonabarabran and Bugaldie

A Trusted Anchor For Growth Since 2003

Providing National Support with a Local Heart: Established 2003 | Rebranded 2009

Regardless of your postcode, Blu Ripples® is dedicated to providing a supportive, empathetic, and grounded environment. We work with you to identify your “Baselines,” process the thoughts, feelings, and emotions that hinder you, and help you regain the confidence and control needed to move through life’s transitions.

Wherever you are, we are ready to assist you in navigating life’s ripples.

Connect with Blu Ripples
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