Kate Flaherty RCDPA FCDAA PACFA Clinical Kate Flaherty is a Registered Career development Practitioner, Registered Clinical Counsellor, and National leader in professional practice, with extensive experience across career development, employment services, and employee assistance programs (EAP). She is committed to supporting individuals and organisations to build sustainable, ethical, and high-performing practice cultures. Kate currently serves as the National President of the Career Development Association of Australia (CDAA), where she provides strategic leadership to advance professional standards, strengthen practitioner capability, and promote the value of career development across sectors. Her work focuses on elevating the profession through evidence-informed practice, supervision, and professional learning. With a background spanning government, education, and private practice, Kate has worked with diverse client groups, including individuals navigating unemployment, career transition, and complex personal and professional challenges. She is particularly passionate about integrating career development with wellbeing, recognising the connection between work, identity, and mental health. Kate has designed and implemented innovative supervision models to support career practitioners, most notably within a government-funded employment initiative delivered through the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR). In this role, she led the supervision component of a six-month pilot program supporting 18 career practitioners working with unemployed clients. Her work demonstrated the impact of structured, reflective supervision in strengthening practitioner wellbeing, ethical decision-making, and service quality, while also improving client outcomes. As an experienced supervisor and facilitator, Kate delivers professional supervision, group facilitation, and training across Australia. Her approach is grounded in restorative, normative, and formative supervision principles, combined with strengths-based, person-centred, and reflective practice methodologies. She is known for creating psychologically safe, collaborative learning environments that support deep reflection and practical application. Kate is an active contributor to the career development community, regularly presenting at professional development events, leading communities of practice, and contributing to professional discourse on supervision, ethics, and workforce capability. She is passionate about shaping the future of career development through reflective practice, strong professional standards, and meaningful connection.