Julie Bertram, PhD, RN

I am an associate professor at the University of Missouri-St. Louis College of Nursing, specializing in psychiatric child and adolescent mental healthcare, holding a clinical nurse specialist certification. My career started in inpatient psychiatry, where I delivered family and person-centered nursing care and facilitated quality time management in emotionally charged situations over a fifteen year timespan. I noticed that children who had foster care or residential care experiences often benefited from inpatient hospitalization because of the better staffing ratios and individualized attention that a hospital can offer, but they generally stayed for a full three weeks as opposed to other children who might stay three to five days.

Transitioning from a charge nurse role to a clinical and fulltime faculty roles, (1999-2017), I mentored hundreds of nursing students, emphasizing self-awareness, reflective practices, and leadership skill development. These experiences dovetailed into my work in foster care beginning in 2008. I was excited to meet Dr. Curtis McMillen who was searching for an advanced practice nurse for a role in his research study. He found me at the School of Nursing, and soon I joined his study as consultant to assist foster care children transition from residential care to the community. It was at this same time that I began my coursework for my PhD. I was fortunate be mentored by champions who believed in my development as a scholar and who provided me with the time and space to develop my new ways of thinking. I began presenting and publishing with teams about our work together in 2011.

In my dissertation research, I explored decision-making in foster care by attending family support teams and court hearings of children and families across five counties, surveying children and their teams about empowerment, and interviewing them about their experiences. The dissertation research study helped me to understand the challenges of multiple intersecting systems who serve foster care children and their families.

As my career progressed, I've become a leader, focusing on advocacy, interventions, and system-level changes. Collaborating with stakeholders, healthcare providers, and community partners, I've directed comprehensive studies addressing vulnerable populations' complex needs, particularly foster care recipients. My career trajectory, from a registered nurse to a Ph.D. scholar, culminated in a research program targeting mental health, nursing interventions, trauma responsiveness, and foster care. I specialize in grounded theory methodology, enabling deep exploration of complex social phenomena. Interdisciplinary collaboration is key to broadening the impact of my research across traditional boundaries.

My primary goal is advancing the mental health and well-being of the 400,000 US children in foster care that are provided support annually. The system, burdened by the child abuse, neglect, and trauma histories of foster care children, struggles to provide high-quality care, leading to workforce moral distress and fragmented services. I advocate for invested caregivers, holistic health measurement, improved communication between systems, and empowering new knowledge generation.

I've developed a copyrighted web-based curriculum for wellness coordinators, focusing on trauma, pharmacology, informed consent, advocacy, and conflict management. This training feeds into the trademarked Wrap Around Wellness Program, a person-centered approach aiming to improve health outcomes for foster care children and families. I also collaborate with community organizations to address the impact of harmful policies on marginalized communities. I contribute globally as a board member and secretary of the International Society of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing.

Ultimately, my style is collaborative and empowering. I aim to scale, measure, and sustain improved foster care system practices through methodologies like implementation science, ensuring the Wrap Around Wellness Program's success in addressing the complex needs of foster care recipients. Besides expanding my reach within the child welfare community by establishing formal and informal support groups for foster parents and children, I am also interested in scaling effective practices and system interventions nationally.

Education

PhD, Educational Leadership and Policy Studies - University of Missouri-St. Louis
MS, Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing - St Louis University School of Nursing
BSN - St. Louis University School of Nursing

Inventions

Bertram J. (2017). UM Copyright Disclosure No. 19UMS002, logged 11/27/2018. - Online Training Materials as a part of the Children’s Permanency Partnership Wrap Around Wellness Program.

Acosta, A., Bertram J., Mann, S., Maly, B. & Children’s Permanency Partnership (2017). Wrap
Around Wellness Training Manual. Locally published.

Links:

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