Julie Grassian is a Licensed Master Social Worker (LMSW) with experience as a mental health clinician working with diverse youth who have been impacted by trauma and loss. She is passionate about ensuring that youth with histories of trauma and loss, specifically youth of color, have access to culturally-receptive and grief-informed mental health services.

Prior to joining the Lucine Center, Julie worked as a mental health clinician at Aspire Richmond Technology Academy in California, where she provided individual and group mental health services. She is trained in Narrative Therapy, Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), art and play therapy, Trauma and Grief Component Therapy for Adolescents (TGCTA) and Multidimensional Grief Therapy (MGT). Julie also worked as a grief support group facilitator for school-aged children and adolescents at UCLA Mattel Children’s Hospital Pediatric Pain & Palliative Care Program and East Bay Agency for Children’s Circle of Care Program. Julie has also developed and facilitated multiple grief-focused trainings for schools and community organizations, aimed at creating more grief-informed systems.

Julie’s strong passion for working with trauma and grief-impacted youth stems from her own lived experiences with grief and loss. Julie identifies as a former foster youth who experienced the loss of both of her parents. This fuels her commitment to ensuring that youth impacted by trauma and loss are able to receive quality mental health services and that systems are able to support grieving youth. Julie also conducted research to better understand the relationship between foster care experiences, mental health outcomes, and emotional/counseling support, and how they impact educational outcomes for California foster youth.

Julie obtained her BA in Psychology and Public Health from the University of California, Los Angeles, and her Master of Social Work and Master of Public Health in Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health and School Social Work from the University of California, Berkeley. Julie is originally from San Pedro, California and currently resides in San Francisco, California. In her free time, Julie loves to take spin classes, try new vegan food and coffee shops, and spend time with her friends and chosen family.