Dr. Julie Merriman

Dr. Julie Merriman, Ph.D., LPC-S ~ known as the Nervous System Architect, has spent three decades in clinical and academic mental health. She holds a Ph.D. in Counselor Education and Supervision from Texas Tech University, is a Licensed Professional Counselor-Supervisor, and has served as a professor, department head, and associate dean in the Texas A&M System, training thousands of clinicians, educators, and first responders. Her specialty is compassion fatigue -- the occupational hazard of those who care for a living -- a subject she researched extensively before living it herself.

After burnout nearly cost her health and her marriage, she rebuilt her way back to what she calls "soul joy," then confronted a second silence few talk about: the quiet loss of desire after 50. Reframing it as a nervous-system question rather than a character flaw, she pursued specialized training in sexual health to bring clinical rigor to the conversation.

She is the author of In Pursuit of Soul Joy: A 12-Week Guide for Overcoming Burnout and Compassion Fatigue and Are We Gonna Have Sex or What? and hosts the Compassion Fatigue Cure and Sexy After 50 podcasts. She lives and works on a ranch in Texas with her husband, Kelly.

Dr. Julie Merriman, Ph.D., LPC-S — the Nervous System Architect — is a counselor educator, author, and podcaster who helps women over 50 recover from burnout and reclaim desire by teaching the nervous system it's safe to come back online.