Her background is in psychiatric nursing with training in New Zealand and subsequent hospital and community experience in Victoria. She has worked as a group psychotherapist in psychiatric settings and as a lecturer in nursing. Julia is committed to experiential learning as a means of facilitating meaningful development in the nurses whom she teaches and as a basis for her own learning. She is a member of the Australian and New Zealand Psychodrama Association (ANZPA) and President of the ANZPA Victorian Region. At present she is preparing for accreditation as a psychodramatist. Julia uses principles of psychodrama extensively in teaching mental health and interpersonal skills to individuals and in group settings