About me
Hi, I’m Julia (she/her). I am a PACFA registered Counsellor and Psychotherapist living and working on unceded Dharug, Wangal and Gadigal land.
I hold a Masters of Counselling and Psychotherapy (Australian College of Applied Psychology) and a Bachelor’s degree in Gender Studies and Psychology (The University of Sydney). I have worked in schools, non-profit and private mental health settings. I work holistically to provide inclusive, non-pathologising therapy.
What happens in counselling?
I approach talk therapy as a place for genuine connection, reflection and meaning-making.
Changes that can occur through counselling may include: insight, new ways of relating to ourselves, our emotions and our wider world. In counselling I acknowledge the varied effects of oppression, as well as the daily acts of resistance people and collectives use against such forces.
What brought me to become a counsellor?
I arrived to the world of counselling through my work in community services and deep-dive into cultural and gender studies, queer theory and psychology. Frustrated by the harms of diagnostic frameworks and the colonial bio-medical model for mental health, I approach psychotherapy as a way to participate in ongoing processes of healing, social activism and social change.
Outside the therapy room
When I’m not sitting with you, one might find me reading, in community, swimming or walking alongside the shoreline of Gadigal Land.
Therapeutic Services
Ellis Counselling & Psychotherapy
This is my online independent practice. I use a sliding scale fee model and we can meet for a length that we can decide together. I mostly work alongside folks for short-medium term.
I am unable to provide adequate and skilled support for someone who is responding to an acute crisis and/or who may benefit from specialised support or a collaborative team. For example:
using violent or controlling behaviour
responding to violence and/or coercive control from others
acute suicidality
severe alcohol and drug use
hearing voices
acute health issues
Collective Care, Projects & Groups
With your consent, I can provide opportunities to join with others (anonymously) who have been responding to hardship or injustice. Some projects include anonymous letter writing and collective poetry tasks. These can provide ways to collectivise problems, share solidarity and resistance skills.
I have facilitated various poetry groups including partnerships with Cumberland Women’s Health Centre and WestWords. These partnerships culminated in anthologies of poetry written by women who have negotiated contexts hostile to their humanity. Here you can read the poetry anthologies Apples: An Unapologetic Anthology From The Core and Undoing.
If you are interested in participating in these projects or are curious about the varied intersections of poetry, meaning-making and community, please get in touch with me.
Acknowledgement of Country
Ellis Counselling and Psychotherapy acknowledges and pays deep respect to the Traditional Custodians of the lands, rivers and sea on which we walk - including Wangal, Gadigal and Wallumedegal Clans. Always was, always will be, Aboriginal land.