Today we’d like to introduce you to Liz Zhou.
Hi Liz, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today.
I’m a holistic therapist specializing in trauma work and psychedelic integration. It’s a funny story about how I got here — as a kid, I actually thought I’d become a foreign language interpreter. I grew up bilingual in Mandarin Chinese and English and studied German, Russian, and Spanish in high school and college. I jumped at any opportunity to travel and explore different cultures.
At some point, I realized that I might enjoy a career based on relationships and human connection — which was the real gift that languages opened up for me. In the middle of college, I switched from a Russian language major to a psychology degree. I set my sights on becoming a therapist.
After college, I was lucky enough to receive a 12-month travel fellowship, through which I could study a topic of my choosing. I decided to explore altered states of consciousness across cultures, including shamanism, plant medicines, and alternative healing modalities. My journey introduced me to different, beautiful corners of the world and expanded my perspective beyond the Western mental health model.
In a whirlwind of a year, I met Shipibo shamans in Peru, Mazatec curanderas in Mexico, yoga teachers in Nepal, and the Bwiti tribe in Gabon. I volunteered at plant medicine centers across South America, learning from Indigenous and shamanic practitioners. In the Netherlands and Spain, I attended conferences on dreamwork and ayahuasca. While cat-sitting for a shaman’s family in the Colombian Amazon, I learned about beekeeping and land conservation.
In Mexico, I signed up for a 10-day meditation retreat, followed by a 10-day dark room retreat — which is exactly as strange as it sounds. For 10 days, I meditated, slept, and lived alone in a room with no light, having meals delivered to me through a box in the wall. Because I couldn’t see anything, I had only my thoughts, songs, and yoga to pass the time. Darkroom retreats are based on the ancient cave retreats of the Dzogchen lineage of Tibetan Buddhism.
After my fellowship year, I continued exploring the plant medicine world. I got hired as a translator at an ayahuasca center in Peru. I translated all the Spanish-English conversations between the Shipibo shamans and guests, many from North America and Europe. Living in the Amazon Jungle for several months, I learned an approach to healing that integrates body, mind, spirit, and nature.
I gained a vocabulary around plant medicines and shamanic practices and was trained to facilitate ceremonies in the Shipibo tradition. These experiences were profoundly healing and life-changing. I am so grateful for the Shipibo shamans and families who welcomed me into their community.
Eventually, it was time to come back to the United States. I decided on Boulder, Colorado as my next home base. I got a Master’s Degree in Mindfulness-based Transpersonal Counseling at Naropa University and then opened my private therapy practice. As a therapist, my work is the integration of all my life experiences and all my teachers — humans, animals, and plants.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Struggles with my emotional and physical health were both catalysts and challenges along my life journey. Western medical treatments did not always work for me. This is part of the reason why I wanted to learn about alternative healing modalities – for myself and eventually for the clients I would serve.
Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I’m a holistic therapist for highly sensitive people across Colorado. By “holistic,” I mean acknowledging all parts of human experience — mental, emotional, physical, spiritual, cultural, intergenerational, and more. By “highly sensitive,” I mean people whose nervous systems feel things intensely, who have rich inner worlds and strong emotions, or who have always felt a bit different from others.
My specialties are trauma work and psychedelic integration. I help adults heal from the past and connect with themselves. For those who engage with psychedelics and plant medicines, I help them prepare for and process their experiences.
I’m trained in EMDR therapy (Eye Movement Desensitization & Reprocessing), which is a powerful modality for healing trauma in the brain and body. With EMDR sessions, people tend to process things in a quicker and more effective way than with talk therapy. I love EMDR because it can be life-changing, in a good way.
In addition to weekly therapy, I provide EMDR intensives — extended therapy sessions across several intentionally designed hours. The intensive format allows for deep, focused, and accelerated healing. With intensives, we get more time together than in a typical weekly, 50-minute session. With that extra time, we can get to some deep places and focus on the specific areas where people feel stuck. Intensives are a great option for people who want to feel better faster.
Seasons of Growth Counseling is the name of my practice. This name acknowledges the way we change, grow, and evolve across time. There are also seasons of rest, grief, letting go, and more — and I’m grateful to work with my clients in whatever season they find themselves in.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Curiosity and a sense of humor. I’ve learned how to pause, step back, and see the bigger picture – and even laugh, when appropriate, because life is absurd sometimes.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.seasonsofgrowthcounseling.com
- Instagram: @liz.holistic.therapist
- Youtube: @liz-zhou
