Jim Foster
Co-Founder and Co-Director of Positive Images
 

Jim Foster has dedicated his entire career life to working with youths and their families, first as a teacher and then as a counselor and therapist.   He is a knowledgeable, caring, energetic, and spiritual person who goes to the heart of individual struggles while nurturing and supporting strengths.

As a gay man, he understood intimately the pain of growing up in a world that can be cruel and isolating. In his therapy practice as he met with many distressed GLBTQ youths, he knew that he must do something to create a safe place for them to be in community and so, sixteen years ago, he brought 5 young gay men together in his counseling office to begin what would become “Positive Images”.  Jim and his co-founder provided an atmosphere of trust in which each member could not only receive support for themselves but could also learn to give back to the community.  A few short months after that first meeting, Positive Images began giving panel presentations to high school communication and survival skills classes.  Through this sharing of personal experiences, questions and open discussions, the roots of homophobia and discrimination were explored and new understandings were born.  These panels have continued over the years in various settings, as have speakers who are available for presentations at SRJC, Sonoma State, and various social service agencies.

Under Jim’s guidance, Positive Images became a peer led organization with members of the group assuming strong roles in leadership, thereby tapping into the enormous amount of knowledge and creativity of its members. This leadership has been responsible for many of the ideas and forward movements of the organization, including the initial establishment of a Positive Images office and eventually a Queer Youth Center, the first and only center of its kind in Sonoma County. 

In 1992, Jim developed a mentoring program consisting of GLBTQ adults who had the desire and commitment to work on a one-on-one contractural basis with individual members. This has been a growing and healing element in the lives of the youths and the elders alike.  Adults have now become involved in Positive Images in many different ways; through fundraising, special events, donations, expertise and as board members. 

The Positive Images Parent’s Support Group began in 1998 to assist in effective parenting, do grief work and address and heal homophobic cultural conditioning.

Throughout the entire evolution of Positive Images, Jim has worked tirelessly to bring out the best in each of the hundreds of youths who have come to this organization.  He loves each of them like a proud parent and supports their growth in every way he possibly can.

With each need that has presented itself, he has addressed that need and created a way to meet it and layer upon layer has built an organization that has gone way beyond even what he had initially envisioned.