About Dr. Julie

Educational Experiences

Prior to becoming a licensed psychologist, I supported individuals with disabilities through volunteer work in special education settings, like the Children's Institute, and though conducting state-sponsored disability evaluations for emerging adults.  

 I earned my PhD in 2014 in a field called Health Psychology and with a specialization in Pediatric School Psychology from East Carolina University.  Pediatric health psychologists span school and medical settings, helping families, teachers, and doctors translate information to support children with medical challenges.  I also earned a master's  degree and certificate of specialization in School Psychology. Though the program was primarily focused on children and learning, I cross-trained in the Clinical Health Psychology program such that I could also work with adults. My training experiences included practica in university outpatient mental health clinics,  school-based mental health clinics, primary care and specialty medical practices, and inpatient neuropsychology units (following patients with brain injuries). Pre-service training included foundational psychological, evaluation, health, biological, developmental, and educational coursework. In short, my training program taught me how medical issues impact brain functioning, and how that impact translates to school, work, and home. I learned to engage and support children using developmentally-appropriate approaches; I learned to consult with and support the adults who serve children, like teachers, doctors, and parents, too. This program heavily centered on psychological and neuropsychological evaluation.

Following training I went onto complete an internship with the Illinois School Psychology Internship Consortium in the Medical Track, which I helped to create.  And then I completed a post-doctoral training experience in a rural primary care setting. I spent the majority of my clinical career working in similar settings in a consultation model known as Primary Care Behavioral Health (PCBH). This model allowed me to see twelve patients most days, and to consult on numerous others. After four years, I collaboratively supported close to 4000 patients! This experience exposed me to the vastness of the human experience and helped me gain a broad understanding of how to connect with people of various backgrounds and identities. It also helped me understand the role that systems play in wellness - many of my patients were not sick because they were born with mental illness, but were sick because they did not have access to medicine, food, work, or opportunities to exercise safely. 

As one might imagine, seeing so many patients who were impacted by systems-level issues also caused a bit of burnout. So, I left clinical practice for a few years to rest and continued to work at the systems level, providing implementation support to state agencies who were implementing community-based programming and federal education law (i.e. IDEA) . This consulting and research role helped me see how hard it can be, and how long it really takes, to see the impact of even small systems changes. At the same time, I had a private practice that allowed me to use the skill set I had been developing since graduate school around gender-supportive care. I enjoyed a small case load of people who were exploring their gender identity.  

Now, returning to my hometown of Pittsburgh, I am delighted to be able to roll all of the skills  and expertise I have gained into this evaluation clinic, where I can practice what my many patients have taught me over the years using neurodivergent-affirming approaches.