Ziji FoxPeter J Fox is a writer, visual artist and for a time a Playback Theatre actor and director. He was a victim of child sexual abuse by the headmaster of an elite Anglican school in Tasmania. He delivered his testimony at public hearing Case 20 of the ustralian Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.He has worked as a clinical psychologist for over fifty years specialising in trauma and relationships. This work of autobiographical fiction draws from evidence at the hearings and grew from his experiences as a survivor-witness and as a trauma specialist. He was born in 1949 Devon, England, still in the grips of post war rationing. He was the third child of his parents, the first two having died in the previous year. His mother died birthing him. He was an orphan from birth as his father absconded. Shortly afterward he was fostered by friends of his mother, both medical practitioners. His foster mother had been orphaned during the war when aged 13. One of the few women at that time to later become a medical practitioner. His foster father, a country GP, was also a pianist, raconteur, and repertory actor. Peter slotted into the place where his foster mother had lost a child born spina bifida just before Peter's birth. He became the middle child of three boys, two from foster mother. He had little contact with his mother's family, he was dead to them believing he had killed their daughter in childbirth. This changed when as a young adult he formed a strong relationship with his maternal aunt who was the Matron of Eton College. She became one of the strongest influences in his life. At aged 8 Peter emigrated to Melbourne Australia to be the companion of his lone biological father, his foster family remaining in England, adding twins to their family four months after he left. After a year or so his father moved to Adelaide then sometime later a move to Tasmania. Then a move to Brisbane where he ultimately enrolled in Veterinary Science at the University of Queensland. This was short-lived and after a year transferred to The University of NSW in a Clinical Psychology Science degree. There he met his first wife. His first clinical job was a locum position at the School of Psychiatry, Prince Henry Hospital. Subsequently he was employed in various roles at the ACT Health Commission. Five years into that job he left to open his first private practice and by that stage had two young children. He has been in private practice ever since, specialising in trauma recovery, marriage, and family therapy. With his second wife Mary, Peter lives on a property backing on to Nightcap National Park. They love the solitude and building rain forest habitat for numerous wildlife species, some endangered. Every year they host young people through the HelpX service - singles, couples, and siblings. They come from around the world for a month or more, to learn about living in harmony with the land and with each other, about bush regeneration, growing habitat, local flora, fauna, and fungi. These teaching experiences, he says, are among the many blessings as custodians in the land of the Bundjalung nation. Late in his career Peter continues to provide a specialist couple therapy service. Most have a background of trauma. He has lived experience of these relationship patterns and is widely respected in his community and beyond as an expert in trauma and intimate relationships. He makes sense of his journey by giving back to the community. Read More Read Less
