We had the good fortune of connecting with Julie Merriman and we’ve shared our conversation below.
Hi Julie, how does your business help the community?
My work exists at the intersection of two quiet crises we are no longer allowed to ignore: the mass burnout of healthcare helpers and the systemic invisibility of midlife women.
I primarily serve women healers over 50—therapists, nurses, caregivers, healthcare professionals, and educators – alongside midlife women reclaiming desire, vitality, and purpose after years of self-abandonment. These women are the backbone of our families, communities, and healthcare systems. Yet they have been conditioned to endure exhaustion as virtue and silence as strength.
The social impact of my work is rooted in interruption.
I interrupt burnout culture in healthcare by naming what the system refuses to: that chronic exhaustion is not an individual failure, but a nervous-system injury caused by over giving in environments that reward self-erasure. I interrupt the medicalization of women’s distress by restoring context, meaning, and embodiment rather than pathologizing normal human responses to prolonged stress. And I interrupt the cultural narrative that expects women over 50 to shrink, disappear, or settle for numbness instead of aliveness.
What makes my work distinct is that I integrate neuroscience-based nervous-system healing, trauma-informed burnout recovery, and embodied practices—including energy work and chakra psychology—into a grounded, accessible framework. I translate complex science into lived experience, with the warmth of deep clinical care, the clarity of research, and the permission to be fully human. I don’t help women “cope.” I help them come home to themselves.
The impact is tangible. I have served hundreds of women through my books, podcast, and programs. My Compassion Fatigue Cure podcast reaches over a thousand listeners monthly, and my work has supported women in leaving unsafe jobs, reclaiming intimacy, restoring boundaries, and rediscovering desire and zest for life. I hear it repeatedly: “I thought life was over. I felt defeated. This changed everything.”
The ripple effect extends far beyond the individual. When one woman heals, her patients experience presence instead of depletion. Her family experiences connection instead of emotional absence. Her relationships become richer and more honest. Her workplace is forced to confront the cost of doing business as usual. And her community becomes more whole.
I do this work because the cost of not doing it is devastating: burned-out healers leaving the professions the world desperately needs, and midlife women quietly surrendering their vitality at the very moment their wisdom is most essential.
We are not meant to survive our lives. We are meant to be whole, alive, connected, and lit from within. Caring for ourselves is not selfish—it is a social responsibility. When women heal at the nervous-system level, the world heals with them.
Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
My career has never followed a straight or easy path—but it has been shaped by a single, clarifying truth: disconnection is at the root of most of what we call burnout, loss of desire, and collapse of meaning.
Professionally, I am a licensed counselor, counselor educator, professor, author, and the founder of a body of work focused on burnout, compassion fatigue, and midlife re-embodiment for women—particularly women healers over 50. What sets my work apart is that I don’t treat exhaustion, numbness, or disengagement as problems to be fixed through effort or mindset. I understand them as signs of profound disconnection—from the body, from purpose, from pleasure, and from self.
My work integrates neuroscience, trauma-informed care, nervous-system healing, somatic psychology, and energy work into an accessible framework that restores connection—internally and relationally. I translate complex science into lived experience so women don’t just understand what’s happening to them; they can finally feel their way back into safety, vitality, and desire.
I’m most proud of creating language and frameworks that validate what so many women have felt but couldn’t name. The women I serve are capable, accomplished, and deeply compassionate. Yet many are living as “floating heads of competence”—functional but disconnected from their bodies and inner lives. When women realize they are not broken, but disconnected, something fundamental shifts. I’ve witnessed women leave unsafe environments, reclaim intimacy, restore boundaries, and step back into lives marked by presence, clarity, and zest.
Getting here was not easy.
Like many of the women I now serve, I built my life around responsibility and achievement. I loved my work—and that love led me to override my body’s signals and live in chronic urgency. Then breast cancer entered the picture and removed all illusion that disconnection was sustainable. Healing required me to slow down, listen differently, and reconnect with my body in ways I had postponed for years. Cancer did not just interrupt my life; it revealed the cost of living disconnected from myself.
That experience permanently shaped my professional direction. I learned that insight alone is insufficient. You cannot think your way back into wholeness. Healing happens through reconnection—regulating the nervous system, restoring safety in the body, and allowing meaning and desire to return organically.
The greatest lessons I’ve learned are simple but radical: burnout is not a personal failure; it is a physiological response to prolonged disconnection. Midlife is not a decline—it is an invitation to return to what matters. And the body is not the problem; it is the pathway back to life.
What I want the world to know about my work and my story is this: the answer is not doing more. The answer is reconnecting—to the body, to truth, to pleasure, to purpose, and to each other. When women reconnect at the nervous-system level, they don’t just recover—they become more present, more alive, and more fully themselves. And when that happens, families, professions, and communities are transformed.
This work is about connection.
Because disconnection is what breaks us—and reconnection is what brings us home.
Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
If my best friend came to Fort Worth for a week, here’s how I’d show them the real magic
Day 1: Welcome to Fort Worth
We’d start downtown at Sundance Square—because it sets the tone immediately: walkable, welcoming, and full of life.
Dinner at Reata Restaurant, now in its beautiful new location—still deeply Fort Worth, just refreshed and reimagined
A slow evening walk and nightcap downtown—this city doesn’t rush you, and that’s part of its charm
Day 2: The Stockyards (Fort Worth DNA) – my Daddy worked there in the 50’s – had the BEST stories! And my Mom’s band played the White Elephant Saloon in the 80’s when is was real Fort Worth.
You can’t understand Fort Worth without this day.
Morning exploring the Fort Worth Stockyards
Lunch at Joe T. Garcia’s—margaritas, enchiladas, and that iconic courtyard
Afternoon live music and people-watching
Evening at Billy Bob’s Texas—yes, we’re going full Texas
Day 3: World-Class Culture, Quiet Elegance
Fort Worth does museums with confidence and restraint.
Morning at the Kimbell Art Museum – grew up across the street!
Next door to the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth – sits where my “Boombie’s” apt. was…
Lunch at Café Modern – The BEST
Late afternoon reflection—this part of the city invites you to slow down and take it in
Day 4: Magnolia Avenue (Local, Creative, Alive)
This is where Fort Worth shows its edge.
Coffee, boutiques, and vintage finds along Magnolia Avenue
Lunch at The Woodshed Smokehouse overlooking the Trinity River – So good!
Afternoon exploring Southside galleries and murals
Casual dinner and live music—this area feels young, artistic, and real
Day 5: Nature, Movement, and Nervous-System Reset
Fort Worth understands the need for green space.
Morning walk or bike ride on the Trinity Trails
Lunch or downtime near Panther Island
Early evening rest—because even a great city should let you exhale
Day 6: Performance, Architecture, and Texas Grandeur
A dress-up night feels right here.
Brunch and wandering downtown
Evening performance at Bass Performance Hall – Gotta Love the Bass Brothers!
Cocktails afterward with a cross-section of Fort Worth—arts patrons, business leaders, storytellers
Day 7: Ranch Roots & Reflection
We’d end the week the Fort Worth way—grounded.
A drive through the surrounding countryside
Good coffee, open skies, and unhurried conversation
A final dinner somewhere meaningful—because Fort Worth isn’t flashy; it’s sincere – Maybe Bonnell’s
Why Fort Worth Will Always Be Home
Fort Worth blends old-school values with new-school creativity. It’s boots and books, cattle and culture, grit and grace. The people show up. The city still believes in connection, community, and taking care of its own.
If you want a place that lets you breathe and remember who you are, Fort Worth will do that.
Give it a week—and it may never let you go.
I’m a 6th generation Fort Worth Girl. My 3rd cousin is Clyde Barrow of Bonnie and Clyde. LOL! Our family has deep history in the Metroplex and has loved Fort Worth before paved streets were a thing.
Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
If I’m honest, nothing I’ve built has ever been a solo act.
My first and most enduring shoutout belongs to my husband of 30 years—my rock in every sense of the word. His steadiness, belief in me, and unwavering presence have made it possible for me to take risks, grow, and keep going when the work felt heavy.
My children, Cliff and Blake, also deserve more credit than they’ll ever know. They are grown now, building beautiful families of their own, but they remain my heart and soul. They’ve taught me more about love, resilience, and perspective than any credential ever could.
I’m deeply grateful to the many professors who shaped my thinking and challenged my growth over the years, with special appreciation for Drs. Albrecht and Duncan, whose mentorship left a lasting imprint on how I teach, think, and lead.
And finally, I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to my students and my clients. They continue to be my greatest teachers—inviting me to listen more deeply, stay humble, and show up better every single day. Their courage, honesty, and willingness to do the work are the reason my work matters at all.
No one does meaningful work alone. I am here because of the people who walked alongside me, believed in me, and trusted me with their stories.
Website: https://www.juliemerrimanphd.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.juliemerriman/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564870628821
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@drjuliemerriman
Image Credits
Pictures are mine, but I’d like to credit Sara Seeton, my fabulous photographer. This photo session was done at the Crescent Hotel in Fort Worth. And the stock trailer with my dogs…I live 3 miles down a dirt road on a beautiful ranch. Fort Worth is a great place to be. Thank you!
Nominate Someone: ShoutoutDFW is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.
