Zoe Vlastos shared their story and experiences with us recently and you can find our conversation below.
Zoe, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What are you most proud of building — that nobody sees?
I love this question because I often ask people what they are proud of! I am most proud of the trusting relationship I’ve built with my body through my own healing and eating disorder recovery. I’m endlessly proud of the ways I’ve moved through layer after layer of inner work to build a strong, loving, and trusting relationship with my body. Of course, it’s not perfect because what does perfection even mean! I’m not in it to be perfect; I feel lucky to have the opportunity to continually build a deeper relationship with myself and my body. It’s a gift to feel at home in my physical form most of the time, a gift that I worked hard for and that I am not shy about celebrating! Plus, this journey has greatly influenced my path into being a psychotherapist, group facilitator, and guide, for which I am so very grateful.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
What my online profiles say: I’m a psychotherapist and group facilitator who specializes in nature-based and somatic eating disorder recovery, trauma healing, and emotion expression for adolescents, young adults, and adults. What my online profiles don’t always say: I’m a mountain woman, avid baker, lover of learning, pianist, partner dancer, dreamer, and forever growth-seeker who is mid-shift from old patterns of trying to control (ha!) and over-achieve into new patterns of deep trust, flow, connection and joy prioritization. I’m a work in progress, just like all of us.
What’s important to know about me as a professional – and a human – is that I fervently believe in the resilience and strength of the human spirit, that we are truly doing the best we can with what we have in any given moment and that feeling our feelings is one of the keys to liberation.
My practice – SolVida Psychotherapy & Connections – is built on these beliefs. My goal as a therapist is to meet my clients where they are at with curiosity, care, and compassion so that we can collaboratively create a space of exploration, healing, and growth. There is no one-size-fits all approach, especially in working with eating disorder recovery and trauma healing. I love supporting people to find what works for them and come home to who they truly are. I do that in many different ways including using wilderness therapy, mindfulness, emotion-focused therapy, inner-parts work, somatic therapy, EMDR, and experiential therapies. I also adore group work because I have found transformation to be accelerated when we are witnessed and held by others. Therefore, I offer at least one group, workshop, backpacking trip, or retreat each year.
The name of my practice –SolVida–means SunLife in Spanish, because my focus is on supporting the unique light within each of my clients even if they are having trouble connecting with it or seeing it themselves. Just like the sun is always there even when we cannot see it at night or when it is covered by clouds, I know the light within each of us is always there even when it is covered by trauma, depression, an eating disorder, you name it. My practice is about exploring what each person needs to feel fully alive in their life. Perhaps it’s a bit cliche but I’ve consistently seen that with support for healing and growth we all have the ability to connect back to who we truly are and create the life we want to be living.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. Who were you before the world told you who you had to be?
I was wild, free, voraciously curious and open hearted. Growing up on a farm in rural Illinois I spent most of my childhood outside in nature and with animals where there was so much space for who I truly am: playful, creative, exploratory, growth-oriented, fascinated, a lover of learning and bringing people together. I am still these things, of course, because I believe that the core of who we are can’t be taken away. Our natural essence can become obscured but our light is still underneath, alive and waiting to shine brightly again. Like many, I see myself in the process of relearning to be who I have always been, to let go of the conditioning I’ve learned to keep myself safe in the world or to be who I thought I needed to be. This is also the work I love to do with my clients. We relearn, rewild, and come home to who we truly are.
What did suffering teach you that success never could?
The wilderness is my greatest teacher and it has taught me much through suffering. Mainly that I am so much stronger than I ever could have imagined, or perhaps simply stronger and more powerful than the world would have me believe. When I’m in nature moving through landscapes on land or water, I have to face into the unknown and trust that I can handle whatever surfaces around the corner of the next moment. It’s my favorite thing. Because no matter if the next moment serves up a hail storm or wild rapid, a rainbow or Columbine flower or finally a flat spot to pitch a tent, I learn again and again that I can navigate the present moment with strength and trust in myself. Sometimes I do it gracefully and sometimes I end up (literally and figuratively) in the muck. Regardless, I learn in ways that I could not if I stayed within the world of comfort and success.
Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What are the biggest lies your industry tells itself?
There are still narratives, especially from the medical model, that therapists are supposed to fix people. I disagree. First, because “fix” implies that something is broken and I believe that most of the mental health challenges we experience come from adaptive responses that have become maladaptive and/or from living in oppressive systems. People aren’t broken; they are stuck in a survival response often due to circumstances outside of their control. Of course, we may feel broken. The emotional experience is so valid, I just don’t like the connotation that broken means “wrong” or “irreparably damaged.” Second, I don’t believe my job is to “fix” people because I became a therapist – and I am a therapist – due to my belief in empowering people to create the change they want in their lives. Not without support, of course, because we’re not meant to do it alone. My job is to support, empower, and offer guidance and tools, however it is not to put a bandaid on the “problem” and then send someone on their way. I believe in sustainable change and healing at the roots of the challenge, which takes time. Unfortunately many parts of our culture are still focused on quick fixes. Lasting progress doesn’t happen unless we create it for ourselves and know how we did it. I can’t live someone’s life for them. I can witness and care, get curious and use my experience to support healing and growth. I am not going to “fix” someone in 60 minutes, however I am going to care deeply which is what we all really need the most. I see myself as a guide and co-explorer with my clients as we navigate their inner worlds and find the places where healing can happen and where change wants to take place.
Okay, so let’s keep going with one more question that means a lot to us: If you laid down your name, role, and possessions—what would remain?
My heart. My love will always remain. I love people and experiences and getting to live this human life so much. When it all gets stripped away I know my purpose in this world is to love and be loved, to be a refuge for souls that need holding, and to experience joy. It’s as simple as that!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://solvidatherapy.com
Image Credits
Teya Rose Media
Elizabeth Woods-Darby
