When I opened my private counselling practice in Perth in 2019, I had a clear vision.
I wanted to change how women and families were supported after traumatic births.
I was seeing women who were struggling months, sometimes years, after childbirth. Many felt dismissed or misunderstood, particularly when they'd been told they should simply be grateful for a healthy baby. Their experiences were having profound effects on their mental health, relationships and confidence as parents.
I could see the enormous gap between the physical care provided during childbirth and the psychological support available afterwards. I knew counselling had an important role to play in closing that gap.
I started part-time, balancing private practice with raising my three children. Like many counsellors, I'd invested heavily in developing my clinical skills, but building a business required an entirely different set of skills.
In 2021, I took the leap into full-time private practice. I made some big decisions, took financial risks, employed my first counsellor and opened a second location. None of these decisions came with guarantees, but I knew that creating the impact I envisioned meant building something bigger than myself.
Today, Fiona Rogerson Perinatal and Trauma Counselling is a specialist team supporting individuals and couples across Perth and Australia-wide through online services.
But as the practice grew, so did my understanding of what creating meaningful change could look like.
Change begins with the individual. Every day, we support parents to process traumatic experiences, rebuild their confidence and reconnect with themselves, their babies and their partners. Seeing someone begin to make sense of an experience that has affected them for years is an extraordinary privilege.
Change extends into our healthcare system. I recognised that supporting families after trauma was only part of the picture. We also needed to influence how healthcare professionals understand, recognise and respond to psychological trauma. Through our Rethinking Trauma education, I've delivered training to healthcare professionals and presented at national conferences, helping bring greater awareness of birth trauma into maternity care.
And change can extend across an entire profession.
As I built my practice, I became increasingly aware of how many talented, highly skilled counsellors were struggling to build financially sustainable businesses. I knew what was possible because I'd done it myself, and I wanted to help other counsellors achieve the same.
That led me to establish Practice That Pays, a business education and mentoring programme that now supports more than 150 counsellors to build successful, sustainable private practices.
Because when counsellors have the skills and confidence to build thriving businesses, the impact multiplies. More counsellors can establish sustainable careers, employ others, expand their services and reach more people who need support.
Building a successful business and making a meaningful difference are not competing priorities. They strengthen one another.
In October 2026, my counselling practice was named the Telstra Best of Business Awards WA Change Award winner, recognising the positive impact our business is creating. In November, I'll represent Western Australia at the national awards in Hobart.
This is an extraordinary milestone, not only for our team, but for the counselling profession.
To see a counselling-led business recognised at this level, alongside businesses from across Australia's industries, demonstrates something I believe deeply. Counselling is not simply a service delivered within four walls. It is a profession with the expertise, leadership and capacity to influence healthcare, strengthen communities and create meaningful change on a much larger scale.
And we deserve to be recognised for it.
My message to fellow counsellors is this.
Be confident in the value you bring. Be proud of your expertise. Be ambitious about the impact you want to create.
We belong alongside other mental health and allied health professions, contributing to important conversations, leading innovation and shaping the future of care in Australia.
We don't need to wait for permission to take up that space. Counsellors are already creating extraordinary change.
It's time we stood confidently in the value of our profession and the possibilities ahead of us.