Julia L. Mayer, Psy.D is a psychodynamically-oriented psychologist in private practice in Media, PA. She has been doing individual and marital therapy for 28 years, specializing in working with women who have histories of sexual trauma, eating disorders and troubled marriages. She has increasingly focused her work on supporting family caregivers.

Prior to becoming a psychologist, she wrote plays and interned as an assistant to the director for a theater company in New York. In 2014, Dr. Mayer published her novel, A Fleeting State of Mind. She co-wrote (with Barry J. Jacobs, Psy.D.) AARP Love and Meaning After 50—10 Challenges to Great Relationships and How to Overcome Them (Hachette Go, 2020) and AARP Meditations for Caregivers, Practical, Emotional and Spiritual Support for You and Your Family (Da Capo, 2016). She has also published professionally in the APA journal, Families, Systems & Health and for WebMD and HealthCentral.

Dr. Mayer is a past president of the board for PSCP – The Psychology Network. Since 2018, she has been co-producing a podcast about psychology and social justice called Shrinks on Third.

She received her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1985 and her doctor of psychology degree from Widener University in 1991. She also completed a three-year certificate program in writing and psychoanalysis at New Directions at the Washington Center for Psychoanalysis.

You can reach Dr. Mayer HERE

Barry J. Jacobs, Psy.D. is a clinical psychologist, family therapist, and Principal for Health Management Associates, a national healthcare consulting firm. For 24 years, he was the Director of Behavioral Sciences for the Crozer-Keystone Family Medicine Residency Program in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He is the co-author (with Julia L. Mayer, Psy.D) of  AARP Love and Meaning After 50—10 Challenges to Great Relationships and How to Overcome Them (Hachette Go, 2020), and AARP Meditations for Caregivers—Practical, Emotional and Spiritual Support for You and Your Family (Da Capo, 2016). He is also the author of The Emotional Survival Guide for Caregivers—Looking After Yourself and Your Family While Helping an Aging Parent (Guilford, 2006).

Dr. Jacobs has given more than 600 presentations on family caregiving for family caregivers, community groups, and medical and mental health professionals. He is the national spokesperson on caregiving for the American Heart Association and an honorary board member of the Well Spouse Association. In 2016, he received the Don Bloch Award, the lifetime achievement award of the Collaborative Family Healthcare Association.

A former magazine journalist, he wrote extensively for The Village Voice and worked for Rolling Stone Press to help produce its first encyclopedia of rock and roll. Since 2013 he has been a blogger on family caregiving and relationships for AARP.org.

Dr. Jacobs received his bachelor’s degree from Brown University and his doctorate in psychology from Widener University.

Contact Dr. Jacobs HERE