Julia Shirar, LPC Associate

Hello! Pleased to meet you here.

These first steps of deciding to do therapy and then finding the right therapist can be pretty overwhelming. Keep on keeping on and trust your gut through this process. Thank you for visiting my page! I hope I can give you a clearer idea of who I am and what our work could look like together.

My approach is rooted in the belief that no matter what a person has going on, there is an inner compass within them that is guiding towards healing. My approach is to be in service of that inner compass and to hear what is being spoken. I am continually humbled by this inner compass and its own ability to seek integration and healing. I also bring a grounding acceptance to the room and will meet you where you are.

In our work together, we will create space to allow the healing of old wounds while also tending to your current life challenges and resolving them. We can create new meaning, deeper perspectives, and different narratives. This creates changes and awareness from the inside out.

Our work can also include working with images, creativity, and dreams if you feel openness and are interested. Therapy that integrates the arts can be a means of processing and expressing things that are maybe inexpressible through words. Similarly, dreams and images sometimes facilitate metaphor, which is helpful in gaining expression and deeper understanding.

Before coming to Therapy Austin, I worked in a variety of therapeutic settings. Nowadays, I mostly work with individuals. I have worked successfully and substantially with couples in the past. I can take on couples but it is dependent on my schedule at the time of the request. My graduate level thesis was on dissociation and depersonalization and I have a lot of experience working with this subject. I also grew up living in multiple countries and cultures, which makes me a so-called Third Culture Kid. Because of these moves, I began developing cultural sensitivity and diversity awareness from a young age. However, I believe multicultural awareness is ongoing and will be a lifelong learning endeavor. I continue to do multicultural training as well as anti-racism work.

A little bit about me: Where I am “from” is a difficult question to answer, but the simplest way to put it is: I am half American/half German. My combined interests in people, culture, philosophy, history, stories, the arts and neuroscience led me to become a therapist. Interesting to think they all relate to therapy but they do! At Pacifica Graduate Institute, I completed my Master’s in Counseling Psychology with a specialization in Depth Psychology. There I studied the works of Carl Jung, Thomas Moore, James Hillman, Joseph Campbell, Fanny Brewster, and Marion Woodman. In my free time, you can find me hanging outside with my pup Maddie, searching for a place to swim with friends, painting, making paints from ground up rocks, or reading.

Thank you so much for visiting my page. If you would like to work together, please call me at 512/201-4501, ext. 558. I will be delighted to hear from you and to start our therapy together.