(she/her)
New to Grow
Hi, I'm Julie Este-McDonald — a Licensed Professional Counselor, Executive Coach, and doctoral candidate in Industrial/Organizational Psychology who researches burnout. I'm passionate about helping people heal, grow, and reconnect with who they are beneath the weight of everything they've been carrying. I work with adults navigating anxiety, depression, burnout, PTSD, life transitions, and the quiet exhaustion that comes from constantly holding it all together. I have a particular heart for women — and especially Black women — who are managing the layered demands of high achievement, caregiving, leadership, and everything in between. My approach is trauma-informed and attachment-aware, meaning I pay close attention not just to what you're experiencing, but to how your history has shaped the way you move through the world. I integrate Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help you examine the thought patterns influencing how you see yourself and others, and I bring warmth, honesty, and practical tools to every session. For clients who want faith to be part of the conversation, I'm also equipped to hold that space. With a post-graduate certificate in Pastoral Counseling, I support clients integrating spirituality into their healing — as well as those deconstructing or reimagining their relationship with faith altogether, including those navigating religious trauma. Whether you're brand new to therapy or returning to go deeper, my goal is simple: to create a space where you feel safe, genuinely seen, and supported in building a life that feels as good on the inside as it may already look on the outside.
Your first session is an opportunity for us to get to know each other and begin building the kind of relationship where real work can happen — one that feels safe, honest, and collaborative from the start. We'll explore what brings you to therapy, the challenges you're currently navigating, your goals, and the personal, relational, and life experiences that have shaped where you are today. Importantly, I want to understand your strengths, not just your struggles. Healing isn't only about what's broken — it's also about recognizing what you're already carrying with you. Together, we'll begin identifying patterns, stressors, and the places where you're longing for growth, clarity, or change. You don't need to arrive with everything figured out. My role is to help you find your footing — with compassion, curiosity, and a grounded, practical approach. Clients often describe my style as warm, down-to-earth, thoughtful, and engaging. I strive to create a space where you feel comfortable being honest, asking questions, and showing up exactly as you are.
What stands out most about my approach is that I view therapy as a true partnership. I'm not here to fix you or tell you what to do — I'm here because I believe the strengths, insight, resilience, and capacity for growth you need already live within you. My role is to help create the conditions where those qualities can be recognized, deepened, and used with greater intention. I bring together expertise across counseling, coaching, leadership development, trauma-informed care, and organizational psychology — not as a list of credentials, but as an integrated lens for helping you understand yourself more fully, navigate complexity, and move toward the kind of change that actually lasts. And through all of it, I hold deep respect for you as the expert of your own life and experience. The progress you make in therapy belongs to you. I walk alongside you — offering guidance, evidence-based tools, honest reflection, and steady encouragement — while keeping the focus on building the self-awareness, confidence, and emotional resilience that will serve you long after our work together ends. My goal is never dependency. It's to help you trust yourself more fully and move through life with greater clarity, agency, and ease.
I am best positioned to work with women, including Black women, who are navigating the lasting effects of trauma, burnout, life transitions, or religious trauma. I welcome clients who are managing depression, anxiety, or PTSD, as well as those who are exploring how faith fits — or no longer fits — into their lives. Whether you are brand new to therapy or returning after a break, you are welcome here. I am not currently accepting clients seeking support specifically for addiction or EMDR-based treatment.
Other specialties
I identify as
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I use Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) to help clients explore how their thought patterns shape the way they see themselves, the world around them, and their own behavior — and to find new ways of thinking that better serve them.
Faith based therapy
I also hold a post-graduate certificate in Pastoral Counseling, which allows me to thoughtfully weave together spirituality, theology, and psychology for clients who want their faith to be part of the healing process.
Trauma Informed Care
My training in trauma-informed care and attachment gives me a deep understanding of how trauma lives in the body and mind — affecting the way we cope, connect, and regulate our emotions. I bring this lens to help clients make sense of their experiences and build a path toward healing.