299 - Changing Systems From the Inside with Julianne Guinasso

Oct 8

“I've always been someone who wants to stay within systems to change them versus decide to totally pivot away.” - Julianne Guinasso

How we view the world is the lens through which we view our identity as therapists. That lens often shifts focus when we encounter discomfort, absorb new knowledge, or unpack antiquated adaptive patterns. It is by no means easy to engage in this process of constant reevaluation. However, outward change (to our profession, our communities, and our world) can only happen when we start from within––and we're gonna need all the help we can get.

Julianne Guinasso, LMFT, is a role model for these contentious times. She's a therapist in private practice and the co-founder of Level Up Leaders, a partnership that helps mental health group practice owners cultivate psychologically safe, trauma-informed work cultures. With over a decade of leadership experience, she helps practice owners move beyond performative policies to tend to their relational ecosystems, creating collaborative spaces that reclaim joy and sustain vision.

Our two-part conversation begins with an honest assessment of the "becoming" process and offers some helpful reframes for when things feel especially sticky.

"When you start deconstructing any of your identities, you start to deconstruct every system and every identity you've ever held," observes Julianne. "It's almost like you don't stop. It's like the onion layer just keeps peeling."

Even with all that feel-good sloughing off, Julianne recognizes how difficult it can be to evolve, to let go of skills that now feel out-of-date or release behaviors that no longer serve us. "How do I now integrate these new aspects of myself, of my belief system, and even the ways that I want to show up in our field to help change our field?"

Since the 2020 murder of George Floyd, many of us have tried to show up for our communities and ourselves in more authentic ways. We have collectively become more aware of what it means to decolonize our therapeutic spaces. We've earnestly adopted the language and taken the workshops. But liberation is a lifelong practice. We are never done.

"As soon as you think that it's an arrival," says Julianne, "then you might find yourself causing more unintentional harm than you intend to."

MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE

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Loma Linda University

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GUEST CONTACT & BIO

Level Up Leaders

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Julianne Guinasso is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in private practice and co-founder of Level Up Leaders Inc., where she partners with Poonam Natha to support group practice owners in cultivating psychological safety through trauma-informed leadership. With over a decade of leadership experience, she helps practice owners move beyond performative policies to tend their relational ecosystems, creating collaborative cultures that reclaim joy and sustain vision.

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