Julia L. Mayer, PsyD & Barry J. Jacobs, PsyD
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 over 30 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 (Balance, a Hachette Group Company, 2020) and AARP Meditations for Caregivers, Practical, Emotional and Spiritual Support for You and Your Family (Balance, a Hachette Group Company, 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 and her doctor of psychology degree from Widener University. 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 healthcare consultant. For 24 years, he was the Director of Behavioral Sciences for the Crozer Health Family Medicine Residency Program in Springfield, Pennsylvania. He is the co-author (with Julia L. Mayer, Psy.D) of The AARP Caregiver Answer Book (Guilford, 2025), AARP Love and Meaning After 50—10 Challenges to Great Relationships and How to Overcome Them (Balance, a Hachette Group Company, 2020), and AARP Meditations for Caregivers—Practical, Emotional and Spiritual Support for You and Your Family (Balance, a Hachette Group Company, 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 700 regional, national, and international presentations on family caregiving for family caregivers, community groups, and medical and mental health professionals. He is 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 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
Winner of the American Journal of Nursing 2025 Award for Best Consumer Health Book
From the authors of AARP Meditations for Caregivers
If you’re among the millions of people annually who take on the role of providing unpaid care to family, friends, or neighbors, you are sure to face tough questions. That is why
The AARP Caregiver Answer Book is for you!
BUY NOW!
**Now available in paperback and audio book!
This timely release tackles the 10 most common challenges of sustaining loving relationships and emotional wellness in your 50s, 60s, and beyond. Authors Julia Mayer and Barry Jacobs, a husband-wife team of psychologists with more than 50 years of combined clinical experience helping individuals and couples, provide professional expertise paired with tried-and-true advice from those who’ve walked this walk before. They offer insights on how to address:
The Empty Nest • Extended Family • Finances • Infidelity • Retirement • Downsizing and Relocating • Sex • Health Concerns • Caregiving • Loss of Loved Ones
AARP Love and Meaning After 50 offers anecdotes, do it yourself assessments and follow-up exercises, and tips for connecting through the difficult times. With this book you’ll find deeper meaning and greater satisfaction for the decades ahead—together.
Also by Julia and Barry
