Julie Gray

Julie is a Clinical Intern at Steady Compass and a current graduate student in Mental Health Counseling at Northwestern University, where she is expected to graduate in May 2026 and become a Licensed Mental Health Counselor.

She is currently seeing clients under close clinical supervision. Working with an intern means accessible, attentive care from a clinician early in her counseling career — with the steady backing of an experienced supervisor. Many clients find the combination especially valuable: Julie brings fresh training and unhurried presence, and the supervision behind the work ensures the care remains held to the same standard as the rest of the practice.

Julie works with children, adolescents, and adults navigating anxiety, depression, life transitions, identity questions, and the emotional weight of being a caregiver or family member to someone living with mental illness. Her clinical interests are shaped by her own life experience, by years of facilitating support groups for families, and by decades of working with young people and their families in earlier roles.

With younger clients, Julie offers a calm, patient, and developmentally attuned presence. She is comfortable with the slower pace that work with children and teens often requires — meeting them where they are, building trust before pushing for insight, and partnering closely with parents and caregivers along the way.

Julie's approach is warm, person-centered, and grounded in evidence-based practice. She integrates cognitive and behavioral frameworks with relational and strengths-based approaches, calibrating to where each client is. Her style is unhurried — she makes space for the conversations clients have often not been able to have anywhere else.

Before pursuing her Master's in Clinical Mental Health Counseling, Julie spent decades in Speech-Language Pathology — earning her MS at California State University, Northridge in 1997 and working extensively with families navigating communication, developmental, and learning differences. That background informs how she listens today: with patience for what is hard to put into words, and respect for the families holding it all together.