Today we're kicking off a new series on our blog called "Career Days - Cool Girls with Cool Jobs". Our debut "Cool Girl" is Julianna Wesolowski who works as a Child and Family Therapist. Learn more about her fascinating work below!
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Name: Julianna Wesolowski Age: 31
Current title/company:
-Child & Family Therapist & Clinical Training Coordinator at Children’s Research Triangle
-Therapist at The Theraplay Institute
Educational background:
Bachelors in Psychology, Marquette University;
Masters in Clinical Psychology, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology
What are the main responsibilities of your job?
-Provide clinic- or community-based individual, family & group psychotherapy for children and adolescents (0-21 years old) and their families, primarily with histories of complex trauma, exposure to domestic and community violence, physical and sexual abuse, neglect, attachment problems, prenatal exposure to drugs and alcohol, and various psychiatric disorders
- Coordinate therapy and support services at multiple offsite locations, including elementary schools, a foster care community, and a domestic violence shelter
-Consult with professionals and parents to increase knowledge of appropriate and effective ways to help kids and their families dealing with past or present stressors and traumatic experiences
-Manage the clinical training program and provide administrative and clinical supervision to staff and therapy interns
-Provide crisis intervention and intensive case management, and advocate for appropriate, effective, and professional service delivery for families.
Take us through an average day at work. What does your typical schedule look like?
I always start off with the intention to follow my prioritized to-do list, but usually end up responding to emails and voicemails which lasts about an hour. I find my way back to my list, which has me connecting with staff therapists to hear about how their cases are going or calling caregivers or caseworker to do assessment and therapy intakes for services. Nowadays I primarily provide clinical supervision to staff therapists and clinical interns, which means helping them to reflect upon their clinical work with clients and providing specific knowledge and feedback to ensure that the client is receiving the best treatment possible. I see a few clients in the afternoons for therapy, including a mom who is working to get her children out of foster care, and a little girl and her mother who are living in a domestic violence shelter.
What is your favorite part of what you do?
Helping people and making connections. Although this could mean giving a teenager a list of available scholarships, it usually means attending to someone in a way that makes them feel understood and valued, when hardly anyone in their life has ever listened to or been there for them in that way.
What don’t you like about your job?
To do my job as a therapist well, I have to be able to really feel other people’s pain, along with their happiness and sadness. I think that “going through” an experience with my clients, as well as my students and colleagues, is what is most supportive and helpful. Being “a container” for someone’s feelings doesn’t always feel good, so I have to find ways to pull myself up after walking through muck with my clients and colleagues.
I assume this wasn’t your first job straight out of college? What other jobs or experience did you need in order to make you qualified for what you’re doing now?
I went straight to grad school after Marquette, and during grad school I worked a number of part time jobs, including an after-school program manager, a camp counselor in the summertime, and organizing birthday parties.
First job out of grad school I managed a program focused on preventing young children’s exposure to violence, and did a lot of community organizing work in the Englewood neighborhood of Chicago.
What do you typically wear to work? Is there a dress code?
I call it “smart casual.”
What made you want to go into the field you’re in? Have you always known it was the career that you wanted to pursue? Or did you stumble into the work you’re doing now?
I found that I liked trying to understand people, and was fascinated by my undergrad psychology classes. I stumbled into trauma work. My first job dealt with exposure to violence issues, namely domestic violence and community gun violence, primarily with families who had very limited resources (i.e. money, housing, broken schools, disconnected relationships) and were marginalized in society. I was raised with a strong value of service to society, and this value really kicked in at this point in my life.
What misconceptions do you think people have about your job?
That it is totally depressing and sad. Although my work can certainly be difficult on a number of levels, I often feel privileged to make a living where people let me into their lives and trust me enough to see and hear the hard stuff in their lives and families.
Whenever a kid or a parent thanks me or tells me I’ve been helpful.
What advice would you give to your 21-year-old self?
My father gave me a copy of Max Ehrmann’s Desiderata when I was in college. This poem has been at every professional desk at which I’ve sat. To this day, I continue to reflect and rely upon these words to guide and ground.
How would you like to see your career grow? What are your current career aspirations—where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I am fortunate to be involved in a field where there is always room for growth. Over the last 8 years I have gained much knowledge, confidence, and expertise in my practice in the child trauma field. At this point, I see myself doing very similar work…continuing to learn from my clients while primarily focusing on teaching and supporting other clinicians. I find it incredibly important that experienced clinicians continue to provide direct services as they advance in their careers, especially in the non-profit and social service arena where quality services can be slim.