Meet Julia.
I'm a Los Angeles based IFS Therapist (LMFT 141685), writer, and facilitator, working with adults, teens, couples, and groups — including musicians, bands, and creative professionals — in private practice. Having worked in entertainment, I bring firsthand understanding of the unique challenges musicians, artists, and creatives face.
I previously worked under Ifat Peled, PhD, Dr. Bonnie Goldstein at Lifespan Psychological Center, and in community mental health at The Relational Center. I'm an educator and facilitator in meditation + mindfulness, yoga, trauma, navigating relationships, creativity, and the nervous system. I aim to help dismantle cultural and other external influences that create harmful narratives around the body and mind. My passion is supporting others in cultivating and enhancing their relationship to creativity, soul, spirituality, and pleasure. My work is deeply informed by 20 years of Buddhist study and practice — and the understanding that cultivating awareness, self-compassion, and presence lies at the heart of healing.
My clients are empathic, sensitive, and curious. They are yearning for greater self-awareness, clarity, and the ability to trust themselves more. I'm trained in Depth/Jungian Psychotherapy, Internal Family Systems, EFT, Relational-Gestalt, Trauma-informed modalities, Yoga, Mindfulness, Brainspotting, and more.
As co-founder of Atrium Creative Retreats, I co-organize workshops, retreats, and events for creatives to heal, recharge, and find deeper meaning and purpose. I also create and lead courses and workshops spanning relationships, communication, conflict, and deeper connection.
I'm an avid learner, endlessly curious about the mind, relationships, and a dedicated Buddhist practitioner of 20 years. I identify as existential, an HSP, and a multi-passionate being. I enjoy surfing, DJing, writing, nature, and depth.
Contact me: julia@juliawillinger.com // Find me on Psychology Today
My Career Story
After beginning a career in the music industry at the age of eighteen, I embarked on a path of working with independent artists and labels to support their career and creative development. This pursuit began as a dream to foster artists’ passions and bring lesser-known music to the world. By my late twenties, I had become an executive at a well-known record label and was working with Grammy award-winning and internationally acclaimed bands. Yet the industry I found myself in was increasingly at odds with the person I am. The reality of ‘making it’ in the music business couldn’t be farther away from the reason I got involved in the first place – my ‘why’. I increasingly found myself burned out and feeling empty with a loss of meaning. When I looked around, I realized I had lost my identity and purpose and needed to make a change.
I observed that I was not alone in feeling alienated in the stressful environment of the music business. I realized that there was little to no resources for artists or industry professionals to receive mental and emotional support. In order to reconnect to my ‘why,’ I trained in therapeutic and contemplative practices for myself and began to share them with others around me. This began my journey of finding what would become a meaningful career and life. Although becoming a therapist meant I would ‘start over,’ I felt that I was igniting a spark into my soul and spirit. My mission now is to guide and support others in creating a meaningful life and taking the next steps in their own process. Whether that means finding more resources and support, meaning in life, creating a supportive container, or just exploring life’s questions together, my aim is to help everyone make the most of life, starting wherever they are.