Today we’d like to introduce you to Julie Mullins.
Hi Julie, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I have always been interested in helping people. After years of raising my children and home schooling them for the first few years, and several different lines of work (artist, marketing/advertising, veterinary technician) I found myself in the position to circle back to a dream I had as a youngster: to go back to school and finally become a professional counselor.
It is interesting how you have to believe you can do something before you go for it. Along the way I had forgotten that I could do difficult things (like finish my undergraduate degree and get a graduate degree while working full time). I began running with a friend and found myself running several local 5 k races, then some half marathons. One day my friend Johnna Terragna (now the race director and owner of Coastal Race Productions along with her son in law) and I were running and I whispered a dream of running a marathon. We trained and trained and trained and completed it! It was during this period that I remembered I could do hard things.
I began to dream that I could go back to school. That I could complete my degree. That I could obtain my masters degree. That I could become the professional I had dreamed of becoming. An opportunity presented itself through the generosity of a benefactor I had the first part of my degree paid and I obtained my both my undergraduate and graduate degree through an online CACREP program at Liberty University.
During my period of supervised practice I had a great counselor supervising me. We were discussing the fact that I had food in my desk for clients. You see, as a new counselor you cannot accept insurance and have reduced rates. You often have individuals placed with you who cannot afford to pay anything. They also are often food insecure as a result and would routinely come to session hungry. It is difficult to work on other difficulties and mental health challenges, if the person in front of you is hungry. I also believe in food not only as fuel for our bodies, but for our minds; so I would keep baby oranges in my drawer. They were healthy, easy to store, delicious, and nutritious. I would often fein hunger and offer my client one (or two or three) so that they could have a snack too and then we could do the work ahead.
As I wrote on my website “It was about meeting the client where they were. Meeting a need and helping them to their next step. My supervisor said “you were doing Orange Therapy” we laughed but in my mind that day Orange Therapy LLC was born. Each client before me has a different need. My job is to help each client move to the next step using empirically proven tools and methods. I will help you find your orange.”
So of course when the time came and I had obtained full licensure I opened Orange Therapy LLC
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?
There have been challenges.
Figuring out the paperwork of owing a business has been difficult (but I remember I can do hard things).
Finding clients. Once I became established myself the referrals became fairly steady, but building a business while there is limited income for advertising is a challenge.
Then I wanted to help more people so I added students I supervised. I decided to advance my own license to be a supervisor of LPCA’s and received training necessary to do so and am now under supervision while I supervise (I know – it’s a lot of layers. We are under supervision a LONG time. But we are working with the minds of people. You want to be sure you are doing it ethically, and competently)
I then worked and had the pleasure of Adding staff members (I currently supervise two provisionally licensed counselors) but have a challenge of finding clients for them.
There is an additional challenge as a “helping professional’ of finding balance; while wanting to help everyone but knowing that we need down time in order to be our best. It is something we discuss often in supervision and make sure we each do to the best of our abilities so that we can be our best for our clients
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Orange Therapy LLC is a private mental health out patient counseling practice located in North Myrtle Beach. We are known for our excellence in counseling providing trauma informed care. Julie Mullins, MA LPC NCC CCTP-II, EFT-II Trained specializes in trauma treatment (medical, sexual, relational, single incident, complex, PTSD, C-PTSD etc), she also works with clients struggling with anxiety, depression, family difficulties, and life transitions. Julie is also the SC provider of counseling for Unite for HER. This organization provides necessary services to breast cancer, metastatic breast cancer, and ovarian cancer patients. As a Unite for HER provider, Julie is able to provide mental health counseling to these patients free of charge. They simply need to fill out the intake documents at uniteforher.org and mention that they would like to be using their Unite for HER passport services.
Julie and her staff (Jasmine Greene, MA LPCA NCC CTP, and Natalya Lango, MA LPCA) are also EAP providers for Horry County employees. It is an honor to provide support to so many who are providing help to others in our communities. (Horry County employees can access 12 free counseling sessions by reaching out to their EAP at 1-800-647-3327 and as for a staff member at Orange Therapy).
I am proud of the skill level of my staff. They are dedicated to the counseling profession and are constantly training to hone their skills.
I want readers to know that they are accepted where they are. The situations people experience are often challenging but to paraphrase Mr Rogers “we can talk about them. If they happen to people we need to talk about them”. We can figure out a pathway, come to an understanding, develop new ways of thinking, learn to engage in the world in a healthy way again.
I want readers to know counseling is a worthwhile and honorable pursuit. It is not for the “crazy” – it is for the person who is struggling. We are trained as counselors to notice patterns, identify problematic ones and help the client develop healthier ways of engaging with the world.
(I would encourage you to read more at www.orangetherapy.org )
Can you tell us more about what you were like growing up?
Growing up I was a lover of people. I was a lover of Jesus.
Highly creative, intuitive, and possessing the highly sensitive person trait which makes me a noticer of things and a deep feeler.
I loved animals of all kinds (and still do – that’s why my own co-therapist at Orange Therapy LLC is a dog named Boaz – he took over for ED who had retired)
I have always loved creating; painting, sculpting, writing (and still do). My parents always told people they had 3 children…one of each…a boy, a girl, and an artist. I was (and still am) that artist. I think that is another thing that makes me good at what I do. As my supervisor once said “We practice with a Master of Arts in counseling. This work requires we are creative to meet the person in front of us in the best way”
I always noticed where people needed something and was constantly looking to meet those needs. I still do.
I enjoyed being outside, exercising in nature, enjoying creation – and today I find I recharge there. There has been interesting research on the benefits of nature for mental health too.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.orangetherapy.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/orangetherapy2022?igsh=MWU1eWN6NnBzdTAxNQ%3D%3D&utm_source=qr
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100070928984148
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/julie-mullins-0b87165b/?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.orangetherapy.org%2F
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@orangetherapy/featured
