Zoe Gillis, Psychotherapist Intern
Contact Zoë:
zoe @ psychologyofwomen (dot) com
323.369.0755 x 4
Schedule Your Appointment
Receiving my Masters in Psychology from Antioch University in 2010 constituted an important benchmark on a long career journey that began in my adolescent years. As a teenager I desired to understand my own family and relationship issues and found in individual and group therapy ways to make sense of those issues on a psychological level. These experiences of working in small groups and in individual psychotherapy not only convinced me of the efficacy of those approaches but also provoked in me a strong interest in personal growth on more than just the psychological level. Initially that interest pulled me in the direction of women’s studies. However, my involvement in Outward Bound and my deepening interest in body awareness led me to pursue a degree in outdoor education with the goal of combining an attention to the body and the environment with an attention to the psyche and women’s issues.
In 2004 I enrolled in the outdoor education program at the University of New Hampshire and in 2006 graduated first in my class. I found that during my course work at UNH and my internship working as a wilderness therapy guide, I continually wanted to turn “teachable moments,” what is considered in the field as spontaneous moments experienced in the wilderness that can be used to teach a concept or skill, into a “therapeutic moment”. I wanted to process the feelings and dynamics that were arising, using the psychical momentum and beauty of the outdoors as a medium.
After graduating from UNH I moved to Canada and worked for two years as a field instructor for a wilderness therapy program. While there I led family workshops, and small groups, and worked with participants on an individual level. Although I loved working in the outdoors and with adolescents, I realized I wanted to work with individuals and families on a more consistent basis rather than for a month at a time. I decided to pursue my masters in psychology at Antioch University in Los Angeles.
Antioch University Los Angeles appealed to me as a graduate program for many reasons. Their program offers a strong social justice component, which is important to me, with a specialization in LGBT and community psychology. My training at Antioch also provided me with a background in several therapeutic approaches: psychodynamic, cognitive-behavioral, family systems theory, and postmodern. My training in outdoor education has taught me the importance of attuning to the body and physical health. I have employed and continue to employ all of these approaches in my work as a school psychologist for K-8th graders at Our Lady of Grace school, as an experiential educator at Crossroads School, and, now, as an intern at the Tarzana Teen Center, and as an intern at the Center for the Psychology of Women under the supervision of Jessica LeRoy and Dylan Berkey.
I use a psychodynamic approach because I believe in the importance of facing and articulating unconscious forces that can play a part in determining our behavior. I also believe it is important and empowering to take greater responsibility for the realities we both create and face. I use a cognitive-behavioral approach because I believe that what we tell ourselves, and the thought patterns and behaviors into which we habitually fall can be changed through re-writing and re-conditioning. I also integrate a systems approach into my practice, because I believe that family dynamics, social and economic structures, and cultural forces can all play a profound role in keep us from realizing our full potential. I also believe in the importance of attending to the body, since the body plays such a powerful role in our own psychic well-being.
Fundamentally, my practice is premised on the belief that all of us share a common humanity, an innate goodness, and a desire to be fully and deeply engaged in our work and in loving relationships.
Degrees, Certifications, and Memberships
Antioch University of Los Angeles
Master of Psychology with an emphasis in Marriage and Family Therapy
State of California Board of Behavioral Sciences
Registered as a Marriage and Family Therapist Intern
University of New Hampshire
Bachelors Degree in kinesiology with an emphasis in Outdoor Education and a minor in Psychology
Member of California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
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