About

Julie Clark Ames, Counselor, MA, LPC-A

Julie is a graduate of Liberty University with a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling.  She is a Licensed Professional Counselor – Associate in Texas as well as a National Certified Counselor.  Julie is trained in EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) which is extremely effective with trauma and in facilitating lasting healing by helping the brain’s natural healing process. Julie is also an APSATS Trainee (Association of Partners of Sex Addicts Trauma Specialists) and has extensive training to help partners who are seeking healing after betrayal trauma.

She is a certified Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts (SYMBIS) Assessment Facilitator; a member of the American Counseling Association; and the American Association of Christian Counseling. Julie is a counselor with the Houston Center for Christian Counseling. She counsels individuals, couples, and families working with children, adolescents, and adults.

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School

Julie Clark Ames graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 1987 with a B.S. in Industrial Systems Engineering, minor in Spanish, and a minor in Technical Business Communications. While attending college, Julie worked in the family structural steel and erection business learning about accounting, detailing, estimating, programming machinery, and fabrication.  Some of the most notable projects were the EPCOT Spaceship Earth, Big Thunder Railroad, and the PNC building in downtown Tampa.

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Love and Marriage

Julie met her husband, Jeffrey Ames, at Georgia Tech. A West Point graduate, he had just completed five years at Fort Bragg, NC, with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, and was earning his master’s degree in operations research (a branch of industrial engineering) in preparation for his next assignment at the Pentagon. Jeff and Julie were married while at Tech and then moved to Alexandria, Virginia. Jeff was assigned to the army operations staff in the Pentagon; Julie’s first career job was as an industrial sales representative for a paper recycling company. Her territory included Maryland, Virginia, and DC.

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Professional Career

Julie subsequently was hired as an industrial engineer with Naval Sea (NAVSEA) Systems Command in Arlington, Virginia. She is a graduate of the NAVSEA two-year Cost Intern Program. Julie first served as an analyst for Submarine Combat Systems, then as the lead cost analyst for the Aircraft Carrier Program (USS Ronald Reagan), and finally as business analyst for the USS Missouri Battleship Museum.

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Motherhood

After ten years in the work force, Julie decided to become a stay-at-home mother with the birth of their first child. Jeff and Julie are the proud parents of three daughters: Maria, Christina, and Anna, twenty-eight, twenty-six, and twenty-three, respectively. Jeff and Julie moved to Tampa in 2002 after fifteen years in Washington, DC. Soon thereafter, they received diagnoses that their eldest two daughters were atypical autistic, with severe intellectual disabilities. Following her daughters’ diagnoses, Julie has become a special needs expert and activist. She started writing A Special Journey in July 2003 and completed her draft in June of 2013, when the girls were seventeen, fifteen, and twelve. In 2019, she was mentally and emotionally ready to publish.

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Radio Show

In December 2012, Julie and her family moved into a small midcentury modern home that required extensive renovations and an addition to accommodate the family and space for an office. The addition and major systems in the home were completed by October 2014. Her original plan was to publish the book and have a website. She envisioned a library of podcasts that people could access for free, containing information on special needs topics that would help them with their challenges. The plan was to have friends (doctors, educators, professors, and other professionals in the special needs field) over to her new home office, to record podcasts. Then, an opportunity became available to have a radio show.

On May 10, Mother’s Day 2015, Julie officially started the Special Needs Family Hour Radio Show. Julie developed an extensive nonprofit business, centered around the radio show, coupled with a website populated with a library of resources. The show aired on Sundays from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m. and was coupled with professionally produced podcasts that listeners can access at any time to get the information they need to be a successful caregiver for individuals with special needs. As the announcer for all of the shows always says, “You are not alone.” Julie covers all topics educational, financial, legal, medical, psychological, and social. She interviews nationally known personalities, individuals with special needs, and other mothers like herself.

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Author

Julie recently published her book A Very Special Journey of Grief, Grace, and Gratitude – No They are not Okay … but It’s Okay! Raising Special Needs Kids. It is a story that provides guidance, hope, and education to parents and professionals who have or work with special needs children. Because of Julie’s involvement with the schools, extensive experience (both good and bad) with the medical community, and an unfortunate encounter with social services, Julie can give the readers the guidance they need to navigate their way through the murky educational, medical, and legal waters in which special needs families find themselves drowning. Conversely, by presenting the parents’ perspective, professionals working in these fields will gain a greater understanding to provide services in a way that is truly helpful.

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Moving to Texas

In 2021, Julie and her family left Tampa and moved to Houston for her oldest two daughters Maria and Christina’s health and long-term care. Julie’s early goal, when she realized they would not be able to live on their own was to outlive her oldest two daughters by one day. As time passed and the girls continued to thrive, Jeff & Julie realized that their most important job was to help their girls transition to living on their own while they were still alive to help them. The hardest thing Maria and Christina would ever experience was transitioning to living without their parents. Jeff & Julie felt it would not be fair to have them to do this after they were deceased.

Jeff & Julie visited the Brookwood Community in May 2019. They returned with Maria and Christina in January 2020 to give the girls an opportunity to spend a few days at Brookwood participating in their various programs.  As Jeff and Julie reflected on their visit, they experienced a sense of peace. They finally had found the perfect place for their girls.

Maria and Christina currently enjoy participating in the Brookwood Community Day Program. They also enjoy Miracle League Baseball and Special Olympics Gymnastics. Their youngest, Anna, recently graduated from college and is beginning working in her professional career.

Professional Resume

Task Force and Committee Work

• Superintendent’s Advisory Council for the Education of Students with Disabilities
  President 2014-2018; Parent Representative 2007-2020
  The Advisory Council provides actionable recommendations to the Superintendent of Schools for Hillsborough County (HC), Florida, to better support the needs of all children with disabilities within the School District’s jurisdiction. Voting members of the Council are appointed by the Superintendent and are composed of school district personnel, parents of students receiving Exceptional Student Education (ESE) and community members. Hillsborough County (HC) is the 8^th largest school district in the U.S. It services more than 30,000 students with special needs.
• HC Economic Stimulus Task Force for Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)
  Spring 2009
  (One of twenty-eight individuals selected to help the school system determine the best way to help special needs students with the $44 Million the school district received from the Federal Government.)

Member of the following Committees as a Special Needs Parent:

• HC Public School Transportation Plan Committee 2007-2008 (Included Area V pilot program)
• HC Public School Exceptional Student Education Adoption Textbook – Dec 2007, Jan 2008, May 2010, Dec 2011 (Reviewed textbooks to be purchased by the county for special needs students.)
• HC Public School Exceptional Student Education Policies & Procedures Committee Fall 2010 (FL Dept. of Education allows the county to have input on state policies and procedures.)
• HC Protocol Review Feedback Fall 2012 (Safety & Emergency Procedures, Bus Training, staffing, coordination/communication, fence height)
• HC BESS (Bureau of Exceptional Education & Student Services) Parent Trial w/ LRP Special Education Connection Access Jan-May 2014 (one of two parents in county to review website for parent use)
• HC Council Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
  • Lithia Springs School Representative 2006-2007
  • Lithia Springs School Delegate 2007-2008
  • County Council Area 6 Vice-President 2007-2008
    Note: member of seven different school PTAs and Homeroom mother for each child at least once!

Awards

• Greater Chamber of Temple Terrace Non-profit Business Finalist 2019
• Mayor’s Alliance for Persons with Disabilities: Excellence in Media Award winner 2016
• Hillsborough County 2012 Excellence in Action Award Winner – “Positive Parent ” Award – “Julie Ames” (Annual HC Public School Awards for the special needs community.)