Julia Bourcier

My name is Julia and that’s what I prefer to be called. I love music, horses, the outdoors, chilling with my pets at home, being around people I love, and raising general mischief wherever I can. I am a private practice therapist as a Licensed Professional Counselor or LPC. Yes, I wrote out the whole official name of my license. Since my life has been far from traditional, I worked really hard and made a lot of sacrifices to achieve those three little alphabets after my name. That license represents a positive outcome to a long, difficult journey that finally led to the achievement of a dream I held on to for 17 years. It took a lot of tenacity and sheer stubbornness for me to get to be an LPC. I absolutely love what I get to do as a profession. It is truly an honor and a privilege to get to be part of people’s lives for the period of time they come to see me for services. I love being able to listen to someone's story to the point that I'm able to pull out the central neuron connecting the whole network so that the puzzles about themselves they haven’t been able to solve suddenly makes sense to them. My greatest joy is seeing that "light bulb" moment when a client finally understands themselves better. Don’t get me wrong, that experience isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. Sometimes, the greatest realizations of self come through pain. While I wouldn't wish the methodology I learned resilience on even my worst enemy, I discovered so much about finding our own power from my experiences of powerlessness. While there's literally no way I want to relive any of the past painful situations I have lived through, I would not trade the lessons I learned for anything in this life or the next. I learned how to read people, their emotions, facial expressions, body language, and subtext... the meanings under the words on the surface. I know from experience what it is to be completely alone surrounded by people who could not see me or who tried to quantify my value. I discovered what it means to have an indomitable spirit, the part of me that no one could or ever would be able to control, and how to protect that when others sought to bend me to their will. Through all of this, I learned the power of one hand reaching out when I was surrounded by darkness; that first feeling of not being so alone, the power of being seen and having just one person believe that I had within me the capacity to rise up out of the "dirt," the shame and self-doubt that so often left me feeling trapped. As a result of all these experiences I learned that often I hold the keys to not only unlock that prison cell where I used to live, but also the capacity to find, hold, or discover the keys to unlock any doors ahead. Which is the same experience I hope clients have when working with me. I want others know what it feels like to have a hand reaching out to help lift them up so they are not struggling to rise to their feet all by themselves. I want each person to feel what it is to be seen and to view themselves in a more positive light through the reflection of love they see sent to them from the eyes of another person. I would not transform others so much as I would wish to help them shed light so they can find their own keys to unlock the places they feel trapped and to open the doors for their path forward. My combined life experience has taught me that adversity is unavoidable in a life well lived. I want to be part of people's journey to overcome the adversities they face, to see their own potential to take risks, weather the storms of life, and thrive in a life they have built for themselves through the power of their own choices.