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‘Any path is only a path… The only question is: Does this path have a heart? If it does, then it is a good path. If it doesn’t, then it is of no use.’ Carlos Castaneda
Living in Victoria on the Mornington Peninsula with her husband of twenty odd years and regularly visited by her two adult children, Julia continues to explore her own ‘good path’. This has included teaching, coaching and mentoring, managing bookshops, working as a musician and director of children's theatre, as a playwright, published author, disability advocate ... though not in any particular order! She also works extensively with young people, taking Life Coaching principles into the school and university classrooms and using them to effect positive change and transformation.
As a popular coach, Julia has a track record in facilitating clients to find their own ‘path with a heart’: their personal avenue of expression and strong purpose in a manner that is joyous, exhilarating and powerful. Most importantly, Julia helps her clients create ‘personal action plan bridges’:making connecting, manageable steps between where they are now and where they desire to be in the future. Her style is eclectic, absorbing, sometimes audacious, often hilarious, yet always highly practical.
Julia completed three years of training as a psychologist but felt constricted by the emphasis placed on what was wrong with the client as compared to what was positive and affirming. As a Life Coach she is able to harness each client’s unique strengths to enable them to create a life of purpose and passion. Raising a daughter with a disability has also been a source of great teaching:
‘She taught me the arts of patience, gratitude, solidly believing that something you needed would always turn up, living in the moment, and really acknowledging the hidden achievements that we all have but which are often invisible to others. Her healing process showed me that there is no limit to one’s potential if you are willing to look for possibilities rather than focus on limitations. When supporting clients to move beyond their self imposed restrictions I am inspired by what my daughter demonstrates daily: the cards you are dealt in life are only one factor of many in determining concrete outcomes.’
Reflecting the Minessence mission of ‘unfolding meaning through values’, Julia has recently completed a Masters Thesis at the University of Melbourne where her focus was those reflective practices that promote Teacher Renewal through paying close attention to core values, leading to a clearer understanding of one’s deeper purpose. Julia is currently undertaking her PhD, also at the University of Melbourne, where her attention is now on the journey of the teacher candidate and the role that core values might play in building sustainable professional identities.
Publications
Reid, J. (2014). This teaching life of mine: A study of teacher renewal through values and purpose based reflective practice. LAP Lambert Academic Publishing: Germany.
Reid, J. (2009/2012/2017). Shower singing and other essentials. In C. Sinclair, N. Jeanneret & J. O’Toole (Eds.), Education in the arts: Teaching and learning in the contemporary curriculum (pp.54-62). Melbourne: Oxford University Press.
Reid, J. (1989). The path with a heart. In S. Verma (Ed.), “Everybody’s different, everybody’s the same”: Effective practice in integration (pp 22-23). Victoria: Ministry of Education.
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