WELLBEING
TIK-TOKING ALONG
Psychologist and rising social media star Dr Julie Smith tells HELLO! how her bite-size videos can help you manage your mental health
With more than four million followers on TikTok and more than a million on Instagram, psychologist Dr Julie Smith has become something of a self-help influencer.
In 2019, spurred on by her passion to make therapy tools accessible, the 37-year-old This Morning regular started posting short videos delivering simple but effective advice, such as her viral clip on the “Top five things someone with social anxiety wants you to know”, which has been viewed more than six million times. Here, Dr Julie, Sunday Times bestselling author of Why Has Nobody Told Me This Before?, shares some advice to help us filter out all the “new year, new you” noise.
Dr Julie, how did you segue from clinic into social media?
“I worked in the NHS for ten years and then I ran a small private practice from home, to manage around the children. People think that when you go to therapy, you just talk and someone listens. But you also learn about how your brain works, and manage your mental health with different skills.