Julie Klingel has been a member of the faculty of the University of Santa Monica since 2003.  She has served as a Faculty Reader Leader in both the First and Second Year classes.

Licensed as a Marriage and Family Therapist in California, Julie also works full-time at the University as the Director of Education Administration.  She was previously the Mental Health Services Director at St. Anne’s, a large social services agency in Los Angeles, focused on meeting the challenges of teen pregnancy and parenting.  She also worked at the Sycamores as a therapist in a school-based program, assisting grade school students and their families in leading stable and productive lives.  Her specialties include crisis intervention, issues related to child abuse and neglect, and anxiety and depressive disorders.

Julie was drawn to USM because of an interest in spirituality and healing and received her Master of Arts degree in Counseling Psychology from the University in 1997.  She was honored as the Counseling Psychology Student of the Year.  Julie completed a Family Therapy Training Program, a Gang Awareness Training and Education Program and a Group Therapy training program at the Southern California Counseling Center in Los Angeles where she worked with individuals, couples and families, and co-facilitated groups of former gang members in recovery.  She is a Clinical Member of the California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists.

Julie received a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the State University of New York, College at New Paltz.  She spent a portion of her senior year studying the Italian language and culture in Siena, Italy.  After graduating from college, Julie began acting in a children’s theatre production, which sparked a year of focus on different forms of acting and membership in a local theatre company.

In 1991, she rode her bicycle from New York to Los Angeles with a small group of friends raising money and awareness for the Children’s Wish Foundation and has lived in Los Angeles since.  She worked in the entertainment industry for a number of years while studying for her Master’s degree at USM and completing various internships. 

Julie is an avid Zydeco dancer, a long-time student of Gabrielle Roth’s 5 Rhythms moving meditation, plays violin and piano, and loves hiking, rollerblading, yoga and most recently, writing.  She has an intention to eventually be a member of the American Red Cross Disaster Mental Health Team and has one course to complete.