Julia Xiao-Rodriguez passed the national exam to become a licensed clinical counselor. The Youth and Family Institute is honored to celebrate this milestone with her.
This achievement reflects years of study, clinical training, perseverance, and care. Julia completed her master’s degree at Northwestern during the pandemic. She then learned DBT and now works alongside Marcus Rodriguez, PhD, on the YFI team.
For Marcus, this milestone is also deeply personal.
Julia Xiao-Rodriguez’s Licensing Milestone
Julia immigrated to the United States at 28. She mastered English, raised two children, and kept learning through enormous challenges.
She navigated medical appointments, insurance battles, therapies, family stress, and long seasons of uncertainty. Through it all, she continued to grow personally and professionally.
And still, as Marcus shared, she laughs so easily.
Resilience, Support, and Clinical Growth
Marcus often teaches students and patients that resilience is not about never struggling. It is about believing that no matter what happens, we can cope, adapt, bounce back, and find a way through.
Julia’s path reflects that kind of resilience. Not as a simple individual trait, but as something built through love, support, determination, and community.
Her work as a clinician is shaped not only by training. It is also shaped by lived experience, grit, humility, and deep compassion for families facing hard things.
Celebrating Julia Xiao-Rodriguez and Her Next Chapter
Passing a national licensing exam is more than a credentialing step. It represents years of preparation and a commitment to ethical, competent, evidence-based care.
Families often see only the therapy hour itself. Behind the scenes, clinicians spend years learning how to assess risk, support emotion regulation, understand trauma, work with families, collaborate with other providers, and respond skillfully when clients are suffering.
Julia’s accomplishment is a meaningful moment for her, her family, and the YFI community.
Please join us in congratulating Julia Xiao-Rodriguez on this beautiful and well-earned milestone.
At YFI, we support youth, young adults, and families navigating anxiety, depression, OCD, PTSD, self-harm, suicide risk, ADHD, emotion dysregulation, school stress, and family challenges. Our team provides comprehensive DBT, including individual therapy, skills training, phone coaching, parent coaching, and coordinated care for clients who need more support. Learn more about our DBT services: /dbt/
For families in Sawtelle, Mar Vista, Venice, Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, and Brentwood, YFI offers compassionate, evidence-based care. To learn more about therapy, DBT, parent coaching, or referrals, please visit our contact page: /contact/
To learn more about the Licensed Professional Clinical Counselor profession in California, visit the Board of Behavioral Sciences: https://www.bbs.ca.gov/applicants/lpcc.html
