Dr. Julia Harper
Dr. Julia Harper, PhD, MS, OTR/L, is a therapist, author, speaker, and founder and Clinical Director of TheraPeeds Family Center. For over 30 years, her work has focused on understanding how the brain and mind shape human function and how both can be intentionally trained to create meaningful, lasting change.
Dr. Harper is the creator of two proprietary methods: H.O.P.E.™ (Harper’s Optimal Protocols for Enrichment), which uses neuroplasticity to train the brain to build functional skills, and W.A.Y.™ (What About You), which trains the mind to build resilience, strengthen perseverance, and move through challenge. Her work has been used with children, adults, and families from across the United States and around the world.
Central to her work is the brain’s ongoing ability to develop and use skills throughout the lifespan. Her emphasis is on regulation, a foundational nervous system ability that must be developed and preserved because it is the foundation of function. Our ability to think, focus, manage emotion, adapt, communicate, connect with others, persist through difficulty, and act intentionally depends on regulation both to build these skills and to access them when needed.
Her work now extends beyond the clinical setting to explore what humans need to develop and preserve in a rapidly changing world. She is the author of the forthcoming book Consciousness Intelligence™: Reclaiming the Human Abilities That Cannot Be Automated and the creator of Rewiring Home and the Regulation-Ready Workplace™, which brings this work into the places where people live, learn, work, and develop.
