Julie Osborn
Doctor of Psychology
Licensed Clinical Social Worker
Julie has been in practice for over 25 years, she specializes in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy—The most effective and well studied modality of psychotherapy. Dr. Osborn worked at UCI Neuropsychiatric Center in Orange, CA for over 10 years. She volunteers for Families Forward in Irvine offering counseling to families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
Dr. Osborn is a Certified TEAM Therapist: LEVEL 2 and has been featured on many reputable publications such as the OC Metro and the OC Register as well as been invited as a guest therapist on the Dr. Phil Show. In 2006 Dr. Osborn was included in Empires “Who’s Who Honors Edition 2005-2006 for Outstanding Professionals in their field”.
“THOUGHTS ONLY HAVE AS MUCH POWER AS YOU GIVE THEM.”
—Dr. Julie Osborn
My Philosophy
I’ve wanted to be a counselor my whole life, starting as the counselor at my overnight camp in our tent when I was 8 years old. I have my Bachelors and Masters degree as a Social Worker and my Doctorate in Psychology. I have had wonderful experiences working with all levels of mental health, in 1997 I began working at UCI and was given the opportunity to learn CBT by running a group and teaching the psychiatry residents group CBT.
That opportunity has been a blessing because CBT has allowed me to help so many clients get well, it works and the results can be fast. Offering clients tools to get better creates a sense of hopefulness and empowerment that they can get better and know what to do when they leave my office when they have negative moods. I practice what I preach because I know that challenging my own negative thoughts is how I can be happy and content in my own life.
Watch Julie’s “Get Out of Your Box” video
in the press
Julie’s interview in VoyageLA
Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Osborn.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Julie. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I wanted to be a therapist since I was a little girl, people tended to come to me to share their problems with and I enjoyed being there for them. I moved to California from Buffalo, NY after I graduated high school in 1982, I started some college but never finished and was just enjoying CA and living on my own. In 1985 I was cleaning houses and working at a car wash and realized unless I wanted to be cleaning other people’s toilets for the rest of my life I needed to go back to school. I needed to go back to Buffalo and stay with my dad for support so I could go to college. My first important moment for me in college was when I was volunteering at a suicide hotline and my trainer, a man named Pat, was actually the Dean of the Social Work department at my school and told me to get my degree as a social worker. Best advice I ever got! I switched from being a psych major to social work. Since I was started school at 20 years old I went straight through all year and finished in 3 years. I knew I wanted to come back to CA so I took my GRE for graduate school on Feb.13th 1989 and left Feb.14th 1989. I began my Masters in Social Work at Long Beach State in 1989 and graduated in 1992 and became licensed in 1994. I had worked at many psychiatric hospitals working with a range of mentally ill clients. In 1997 I began working at UCI outpatient psychiatric center. I never planned on getting my Doctorate but realized I was capable after working with so many doctors. By now I was married and had 2 daughters and a dog. I didn’t want to go back to class so I found a distance learning school which was a perfect fit for me and received my Psy.D.
In 2000, while I was working full-time at UC Irvine as a therapist and I started my private practice on Saturdays subleasing from other therapists. My practice grew large enough to have 2 days a week and in 2007 I left UCI and began my full-time practice. While I was at UCI I had to take over the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy group. I was lucky enough to be trained by Dr. Dennis Greenberger who co-wrote the book Mind Over Mood and since then I have specialized in Cognitive behavioral Therapy (CBT).
I teach my clients to make decisions based on what is best for them, not how they feel!
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
I wouldn’t say it has been a smooth road but as I tell my clients, when we struggle means we are growing. Although I am grateful I have my private practice and love working for myself it was very scary for me to leave UCI and all the benefits and stability that came with that. I have been someone who likes certainty and knowing what my paycheck will be. Going to my practice full time was a risk for me, also I was the breadwinner of my family so it was all on me. I had a plan B but I am grateful it has worked out.
When I was in school for my doctorate I was working full time and had my part-time private practice. I would work on my schooling on my lunch at work and at night after I put my kids to bed. That was a challenging time to meet everybody’s needs and focus on school.
Please tell us about Julie Osborn, LCSW, Psy.D.
I have a full time practice in Irvine, CA. I specialize in Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and see clients 15 years and older. The majority of my clients are adults that I see individually, I do see some couples and families.
I am most proud knowing I have helped and made a difference in my clients’ lives. I think what sets me apart is being a CBT specialist and my availability to my clients. I let all of my clients know that in between sessions I am available by phone or email to touch base or answer any questions they may have with their weekly homework I assign which is part of CBT.
CBT is the most effective and well-studied modality of psychotherapy. The theory is that our thoughts create our moods which effects our behaviors and our physical reactions, the other aspect we look at is a person’s environment. Most people live off of their moods and go between moods and behaviors. This is why most people don’t get better because they end up back to their negative moods they are trying to change. When you teach that your thoughts create your moods you change your thoughts you then can change your mood and your behaviors and physical reactions will change as well.
I teach my clients to be their own therapists so therapy can be short term and they can learn lifelong tools.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
I would have started my private practice a lot earlier, other than that I wouldn’t change anything.
