Conversations with Julia Langner

Today we’d like to introduce you to Julia Langner

Hi Julia, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I like to say I pursued a degree in music business at Belmont University and double majored in panic and anxiety. I always had an intimate relationship with anxiety, but throughout college I struggled with my mental health in a way that made it easy to think, there is no way this ever gets better. My junior year I saw a therapist who helped me make sense of my story with compassion and curiosity. It was all around transformational. I was nearing a healthy stopping point in my therapy at the time but wanted to keep coming back to learn from my therapist. Then it clicked for me – maybe this is actually what I wanted to do with my life.

At graduation, despite having a degree in business, I moved across the country to Vermont to work at a residential treatment center for co-occurring disorders. There was a lot that happened over those four years that left me wanting to get the heck out of Nashville for a bit. Definitely escapism, but it served a good purpose in retrospect. Living in a new place and knowing no one, I had the chance to really get to know myself. The hands-on mental health experience solidified my plans to get my master’s in mental health counseling, which I returned to Nashville to do at Trevecca Nazarene University.

Three Cords Therapy is a full circle moment for me. In undergrad during my peak year of panic, I was working part-time for an incredible small business owner named Staci. In the years that followed she ended up going back to school for counseling and working at Three Cords Therapy. Nearing graduation from my masters, I reconnected with her and joined the amazing team at Three Cords Therapy in May 2023. It was an important reminder that even when I felt like I was at my worst, there were people around me who saw something in me worth developing. Even sweeter, the office is on Music Row, and in college I dreamed of working on music row in the music industry. I got my dream come true, just in a truer form for me.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Are you familiar with Chicago (my hometown) in March? It was kind of like that – a lot of potholes. I started my masters program in January 2020 and worked full-time as a social worker well into the pandemic, leading counseling and support groups for a high-trauma population. With what little training I had at the time, you could say I was out of my depth. At night and on weekends I went to class and tried to intellectualize the hurt I was witnessing everywhere. I was experiencing secondary trauma and for a long time I didn’t have words for it. I was still too green in the field to know that taking care of yourself and being proactive about burnout wasn’t just a fluffy self-care idea but part of my responsibility and ethic in the helping profession. I had a community around me say, lovingly, you’re not well. Take a step back.

I transitioned out of my social work job a few months before starting my graduate internship and reconnected with a family I knew in need of a nanny. They supported me through employment through the remainder of my graduate program and internship. Kids have a way of teaching you so much, and it was healing for me to learn how to play during such a heavy time. That kiddo was my ring-bearer in my wedding, right before graduation (because let’s combine all major life transitions at once, shall we!). That family is high on my list of people to thank for getting me through to the end.

Becoming a therapist takes a village, and it is important to note that my road also involved a lot of privilege. Being able to take care of burnout by transitioning out of my full-time job and into nannying and an internship was due to having resources available to me that others may not have. I’m grateful and aware of the difference that privilege makes in my story verus others.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
The phrase “research is me-search” fits here. My specialties came as a result of some of my own experiences, things I’ve tried to make sense of and desire to help others heal from in themselves. Those include trauma, anxiety, burnout and working in the music industry.

I work from an attachment-based and trauma-informed lens because I believe relationships are an absolute vital part of our healing process and that a client’s sense of safety, empowerment and autonomy are paramount in the therapuetic process. For those working in the music industry in Nashville, I partner with a handful of organizations that provide financial assistance to lower the barrier to access counseling for those in the field. Those include Music Health Alliance, Backline, The SONA Foundation and EcchoLive.

Are there any important lessons you’ve learned that you can share with us?
My humanity is my greatest asset! More than any degree, training or background I have, my being human is what qualifies me most in a job all focused on how the heck to be a human and make it through this world. Which means I am going to mess up and fail and get it wrong sometimes. I’m learning to hide that less. I love this quote by psychologist Mary Pipher: “What really works in therapy is a real person connecting to a real person.”

Pricing:

• 145/50 minute session

Contact Info:

• Website: https://selfcompassioncounselor.com
• Instagram: @theselfcompassioncounselor
• Other: https://threecordstherapy.com/meet-julia/