Julia Segal has worked as a counsellor for people with neurological illnesses and disabilities and their families since 1985. Her interest in the work of Melanie Klein began in 1968 and she has written extensively on the application of Klein's ideas to everyday experience. Her first paper, 'Mother, Sex and Envy in a Children's Story', was published in the International Review of Psychoanalysis (1979).

She is best known for her books: Phantasy in Everyday Life (Pelican 1985, Karnac 1995, Aronson 1996) and Melanie Klein: Key Figures in Counselling and Psychotherapy (Sage Publications 1992). Her more recent writings reflect her interest in the effect of illness on relationships.