Gathoni Hamilton Foster

Board member

I was born in Kenya and moved to Devon at the age of 14 to be brought up by English Godparents. I was only person of colour in the whole village. Educated at St. Margarets School Exeter Devon and then studied Property Management at University of West England Bristol attaining a Bachelor of Science. While working as a Housing Manager at London Borough of Lambeth I went on to study and attain 2 Masters degrees. MSc in Property Management & Social Sciences and MSc in Property Investment. I was the first African woman registered as a Chartered Surveyor with the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors UK.

My interest in therapy was ignited by my own experience of trauma following the deaths of my mother and father in 2007 and 2010 respectively. My therapist suggested I consider taking the YWAM Certificate in Counselling and Psychotherapy to gain deeper understanding of the processes that I was going through. I joined the course and attained a Diploma and then Level 5 qualification in July 2019. As part of my training I volunteered for NAZ, a Sexual Health Clinic in London for BAME clients and after qualifying and during COVID I led group work and offered single sex sessions for BAME employees of a leading bank.

I am in an intercultural marriage with my English husband, and we have three adult children, who, as people of mixed dual heritage, were an inspiration for my research assignment and forthcoming book on mixed race identity. I am currently on a practice break.