We were lucky to catch up with Zoe Vlastos recently and have shared our conversation below.

Zoe, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I vividly recall the moment that I realized I wanted to shift my career trajectory from a path toward physical health to one directed instead toward mental health. I was sitting in the vibrant green grass of my undergraduate university’s campus quad, spread out on a blanket to study in the sunshine. I was only a few years into my own mental health journey and had been finding therapy to be extremely powerful, especially in the ways it was supporting me in peeling back the layers of defenses and pain I held so that I could return home to my most authentic self. I had also recently witnessed multiple friends going through their own mental health struggles. I acutely felt their need for quality support and some of the inadequacy of the systems in place to do so. I found myself wanting to be a part of providing quality mental health care to the communities I cared about.
The reason this moment stands out to me is because up until that moment, a career in mental health was not my path. I had been moving toward a career in medicine since mid-high school, asking for MCAT study books for Christmas and shadowing doctors while in college. Nonetheless I was slowly realizing how much more powerful and fulfilling I found the process of providing people with space and tools to create their own healing rather than being someone who could offer the quick fix of casting a broken arm or removing a ruptured appendix. I loved the idea of providing people with tools that they could use to support themselves because, afterall, the goal of therapy is to no longer need therapy. It made me think of the parable about teaching someone to fish so that they would have fish for a lifetime rather than giving them one fish which would only satisfy them for a meal. For some reason it was that moment in the sunshine of the quad that something clicked-over inside of me, shifting me away from the path of MCAT study guides and excitement about anatomy class to instead choose the trail that has brought me to being a psychotherapist today. When I folded up my blanket and headed off the quad that day, the direction of my career and life had changed forever.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

As a psychotherapist and group facilitator, I am constantly inspired by and in awe of the strength and beauty of the human spirit. It is truly such an honor that I get to witness and hold space for people to tap into the natural process of healing and growth within themselves. I love my work, which is why I do it.
I currently work through the private practice I founded, SolVida Psychotherapy and Connections. Solvida’s two branches come alive as different yet equally powerful places for people to connect. In the psychotherapy branch I offer individual and couples therapy to adults and teens. I specialize in Somatic and Natured-based Eating Disorder Recovery, although I also work with people experiencing challenges with depression, anxiety, trauma, relationships, body image, emotion regulation and expression, self-esteem and more. My style as a psychotherapist is a unique blend of therapies and techniques I’ve learned over the years including body-centered, emotion-focused, inner-parts, trauma-informed, EMDR, and strengths-based work. Overall, I meet clients where they are at with compassion and curiosity to collaboratively move towards creating what they really want in their lives.
In the Connections branch of SolVida I co-create with other practitioners to facilitate groups, retreats, backpacking trips, and workshops. This past year was full of amazing group experiences, from an essence workshop in New Zealand to a 5-day backpacking trip in the Rocky Mountains to a 4-week online skills group on authentic connection! I’ve just started to plant seeds for the 2025 offering including a couple of backpacking trips, a few retreats, and some local workshops. I’m also a writer at heart so I send out a bi-monthly to quarterly newsletter with my musings as well as information about upcoming offerings at SolVida. Overall, this work I get to do in the world is soul-work, and for that I am eternally grateful!

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

I truly believe the biggest gift we can bring into the world and that which supports us in doing our best work with clients is to be our most authentic selves. Sometimes I struggle to do this because the perfectionist part of me wants to check off the impossibly long list she has created of “ways to be a perfect therapist.” What I truly believe is that being a good therapist is so much more than knowing techniques and theories, it’s about being a human with other humans. I think that Oriah Mountain Dreamer says it so well in her poem The Invitation when she says “I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it, or fade it, or fix it. I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own; if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes…I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back…I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.” These are the things I want to know for myself and for my clients: Who are we on the inside? What do we believe in? How do we source our own joy? I think that I am able to embody this best when I am my most authentic self. So, more practically, succeeding as a therapist is a lot about self-care and doing our own personal work so that we can show up fully. As my therapist reminds me, we can only go with our clients as far as we’ve gone ourselves. Which is why I am endlessly dedicated to my own personal and professional growth. Plus, my most authentic self loves learning so it’s a win-win situation that truly sustains me!

If you could go back in time, do you think you would have chosen a different profession or specialty?

If I could go back, I wouldn’t change much at all. I love my life and my profession. It’s truly such an honor and a pleasure to hold space for people to come home to themselves. The only piece I would change would be to focus more on group therapy and creating group spaces. I come alive in a whole other way when I get to lead a group, retreat, or backpacking trip. I love facilitating groups, being in the flow and web of human experience. I think that if the stepping stones or trail markers had been set slightly differently in some of those pivotal choice moments of my life, I would have studied group dynamics throughout different cultures and currently be creating a collective for cultivating group spaces in our world. Perhaps I still will! I profoundly believe that what we all need right now is community and connection, spaces where we can bring our full selves and be witnessed by others as we truly are.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://solvidatherapy.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zoevlastos/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/

Image Credits

Teya Rose Media, Elizabeth Woods-Darby, Micaela Peker.