As an English graduate from Brigham Young University, Julia began her research in trauma theory during her capstone project, “Kindness in the Bardo: Empathy as a Catalyst for Healing in Victims of Dissociation” (2022). Published in Criterion: A Journal of Literary Criticism, this paper explores how we can extend greater understanding towards trauma survivors and the complicated and disorienting symptoms they experience.

While pursuing her Masters in Theological Studies at Harvard Divinity School, Julia took courses all across the campus in a cross-disciplinary effort to interrogate the intersection of religion, spirituality and mental health. In her final year, Julia helped organize the Religious Trauma Symposium held in April 2026 at the Divinity School, the first interdisciplinary academic conference on the topic. Julia is working with the same core team of organizers to renew the event for mid-Spring 2027. She currently volunteers as a mentor at Holding Out Help, a non-profit organization that helps clients from a polygamous background.

Identifying as a practicing Latter-day Saint, Julia believes in a brighter future for those both within and without the bounds of organized religion who have suffered from the harmful effects of religious trauma or spiritual abuse.