Julie K. Peters, MA, LCPC, RDT – Therapist

Julie is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor in Illinois and a Registered Drama Therapist. She brings two decades of experience in mental health, education, and the performing arts. She believes therapy should be a safe place to talk honestly about the complicated, everyday realities of life, and she has a gift for hearing the nuances, silences, and subtleties in a person’s story. From there, she helps clients put the pieces of a difficult “puzzle” together and grow new perspectives and coping skills.

Julie is a familiar face in the Peoria area. She taught theatre and psychology at Illinois Central College for more than a decade and has also taught at Bradley University. She has served as a lead panelist for NAMI’s community education series on reducing barriers to mental health care in Peoria. Before joining Life Balance, she provided individual, couples, and group counseling in private practice in the Peoria area and in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Addiction and recovery. Julie has worked with substance use in outpatient, residential, and court settings. At Chestnut Health Systems in Bloomington, she provided individual and group counseling for McLean County Drug and Recovery Court clients. She also represented the clinical team in weekly staffings with judges, attorneys, and probation officers. She specializes in supporting long-term recovery.

Eating disorders. At Cielo House, a residential eating disorder treatment center in California, Julie facilitated therapy groups, including drama therapy groups. She continued this work in outpatient settings and has extensive experience supporting people with eating disorders and disordered eating.

Drama therapy. Julie trained in drama therapy at the California Institute of Integral Studies. She later served as a drama therapist at Living Arts Counseling Center in Berkeley, where she guided clients in creating original, autobiographical therapeutic performances. You don’t need to be an actor or an extrovert to benefit. Drama therapy helps the mind and body work together in healing and can uncover insight that talk therapy alone sometimes misses. In session, this might look like role-play, using everyday objects to externalize feelings, or using body posture to express a mood or experience. Whether drama therapy is used is always the client’s choice.

Trauma and betrayal. Julie’s work is trauma-informed, with an emphasis on safety, choice, and pacing. She works with partners who have been hurt by the discovery of a loved one’s addiction, infidelity, or out-of-control sexual behavior. She helps them make sense of the shock, stabilize, and rebuild trust in their own perceptions. Her creative and body-based tools can be especially helpful when the pain of betrayal is hard to put into words.

Affirming care. Through her training at the Pacific Center for Human Growth in Berkeley, Julie has worked extensively within LGBTQIA+ communities. She offers gender-affirming care and a safe space for all sexual identities. She is especially passionate about how we heal from our earliest attachments by practicing new patterns in our relationships.

Julie specializes in:

Partner betrayal trauma

Trauma-informed counseling

Long-term recovery from substance use

Eating disorders and disordered eating

LGBTQIA+ and gender-affirming care

Life transitions: relationships, communication, and managing mood during big life changes

Who Julie sees: Teens (13+), adults, and couples

Approaches with individuals: Psychodynamic/insight-based therapy, CBT, DBT, ACT, Motivational Interviewing, Drama Therapy, trauma-focused therapy, and attachment-oriented therapy

Approaches with couples: Gottman Method, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), and attachment-oriented therapy

Education

MA, Counseling Psychology, emphasis in Drama Therapy, California Institute of Integral Studies

MFA, Media and Performing Arts, Savannah College of Art and Design

BA, Theatre Arts, Eureka College

Credentials: Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor (Illinois); Registered Drama Therapist (RDT)

Julie is credentialed by most of the insurance companies, including Blue Cross, Blue Shield, Aetna, Cigna, United Healthcare, UHC for Caterpillar. She is also credentialed with several EAP’s. Call now.