Meet Julia

Julia Ward, LPC Associate

Fee: $130 / 45 min session Supervised by: Eva Escobedo, LPC-S
Pronouns: She / Her
Session Format: In-Person & Virtual / Telehealth / Walk & Talk (as arranged) Works with: Children 7+, Tweens & Teens, Young Adults, Adults, and Parents  Practice passions: Mindfulness, Creativity, Client- and Strengths-focused, Neurodivergence

Areas of INTEREST:

• Transitions

• Emotional Regulation

• Anxiety

• Mindfulness

• Skill Building

• Creative people

• Activism and social justice

• LGBTQIA+ community

• Parenting and co-parenting

• ADHD/Autism

• Giftedness and 2E identity

• Somatics and body awareness

GET TO KNOW JULIA:

I live in a multi-generational household with my artist mother, 11 year old son, 2 dogs, a big garden, and many musical instruments. In my free time, I enjoy bouldering and rock climbing (badly), practicing yoga, playing music (some instruments better than others), gardening, cooking, reading, making art, and re-learning middle school math with my kid. 

In addition, I am involved in community mutual aid, organizing and providing food aid to neighbors in need. 

Therapeutic Approach:

I delight in creating space for non-judgmental, strengths-based client-centered healing. What this means is that each client enters the space (virtual or in-person) where they are accepted as they are and for who they are and where they are in charge of the pace and work of therapy. 

Therapy is relational healing. It is a space where there is comfort and ease, allowing a client to come as they are and test boundaries knowing they will be confidently held in their exploration. If the idea of therapy is one of facilitating change, the therapeutic space is one where change is led by the client with the knowledge that learning is a slow process, requiring patience, guidance, and support.

My therapeutic philosophy is drawn from many psychological and philosophical teachings but comes down to a few major questions:

How do we learn to love and accept ourselves? 

How do we learn to love those we care for in a way that is committed to their growth and our own? 

Facilitating the answer to those deep questions is surprisingly joyful. It involves conversation, art-making, games, poetry, mindfulness, and the co-creation of plans for healthy habits. 

I have deep and abiding respect for childhood as a unique and important stage of life and love working with all ages. While work with children involves less philosophical conversation (sometimes), it is just as deeply rooted in respect for the individual and their innate desire for well-being. Play-based counseling looks a lot like playing with kids, but the deeper work taking place is co-regulation, non-instructive attention, and is designed to create self-efficacy and confidence in kids. It works, it takes time, and it is a joy to be a part of. 

My practice is based in liberation psychology with love and loving at its core. This involves not only developing self-love and nurturing familial love, but community care as well. With adults, my work involves examining broader social and cultural influences on well-being. This exploration is challenging and thrilling and is especially important in a cultural bent on individualism, which isolates us from the community we need to thrive. We look to the root causes of suffering and the different behaviors we might take on to manage our pain. Untangling the threads of each of us is life-long work. We begin the work together. 

Professional BACKGROUND:

My career working with young people started with a post-high school stint as an Americorps volunteer in Los Angeles, providing after school educational support, community outreach, and art education as well as running community gardens with a local nonprofit organization. After completing my undergraduate degree in Anthropology and Linguistics with a concentration in ethnomusicology and folklore at UT Austin, I did what every young grad does: I became a bespoke cowboy bootmaker. During my apprenticeship, I also worked as a costume designer, vegetarian caterer, began advanced training in yoga, and continued my lifelong career as a professional musician. 

Always intrigued by education, I began volunteering my time as an arts educator in 2007 and transitioned to a career as adjunct art and music faculty at an Austin-area private high school. I then began taking on an administrative and counseling role at the school and fell in love with working with adolescents in a more therapeutic capacity. In 2021, I returned to UT-Austin, where I earned a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology with a concentration in school counseling.