kat zwick, ma, lpcc, lcpc, cgp-s

owner, consultant, trainer, individual & group therapist

she/her, they/them

Director: Core Principles Course Training Program for Group Therapists

For the International Board for the Certification of Group Psychotherapists & the American Group Psychotherapy Association

Clinically licensed in Illinois, California, Colorado, and Washington States

Certified Group Psychotherapist & Qualified CGP Supervisor

Kat’s online CV here

kat started her full-time outpatient practice in 2017…

From 2018 - 2022, Kat was the Executive & Clinical Director of RtW when RtW functioned as a larger group practice and training site for postdoctoral Fellows and post-graduate Masters-level Associates seeking training and supervision in gender affirming, neurodivergent affirming, eating disorders, and substance use disorder care and codependency recovery.

In 2022, after the last of Kat’s Associates and Fellows graduated from their positions, Kat decided to return to solo private practice to focus on providing direct clinical care, clinical training and consulting, and executive consulting services at treatment centers.

Kat has managed all aspects of RtW, from clinical to operations and finance to marketing.

therapy with kat

Kat has been described as a therapist as very engaged, compassionate, warm, discerning, present, and strengths-based. She is both direct and non-judgmental, and Kat invites non-judgment in how clients relate to themselves and others. Kat uses humor, metaphors, stories and analogies to help clients “unstick” their thinking in all individual and group settings.

In process groups, Kat seeks to help clients connect with each other, the present moment, with themselves, and also with their relatedness with power and authority, meaning, in part, in their relationship with Kat, which can be representative of authority relationships outside of therapy - such as with bosses, supervisors, parents, and others. Too, clients may look at how they relate to themselves and their own power and authority. It is essential to Kat to be mindful of how external and group privilege and social positionalities factor in to group behavior and experiences.

Kat is trained in a number of modalities for process groups - mostly deeply in group-as-a-whole, family systems in groups, here-and-now group analytic, client-centered/feminist, and social justice/liberatory frameworks, which Kat combines and adapts for their process group work. Kat is also functionally trained in IFS, Level 1.

Kat’s DBT training began in 2012, working in treatment centers, and they have been running DBT programming and groups since 2013, without interruption. Kat has edited Linehan’s 2015 workbook to center LGBTQ and Neurodivergent realities (including DBT work also from Sonny Jane Wise, Martin Bohus and Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher) in order to meet the needs of Kat’s DBT group populations.

Additionally, Kat has received training in neurodivergent-affirming care for those who struggle with executive functioning, and they provide individual skills-based therapy for folks looking for this kind of assistance.

Kat also has career-spanning years of knowledge, experience, expertise, and comfort with assisting folks who may struggle to find balance between self and other in relationships, who struggle or have struggled with substance use, disordered eating or body image, other compulsive behaviors such as social media or computer overuse, love infatuation or obsession, gambling, debting, or more, as well as who live with a history of co-occurring trauma. Kat now works primarily with folks who might consider themselves in advanced recovery, though Kat spent many years working with folks entering treatment centers (Residential, PHP, and IOP) for the first time.

additional info…

kat the human

In her spare time, Kat loves to geek out on a variety of topics usually concerning human behavior, zeitgeists, pop culture and music; she loves to make probably too many playlists. Kat sings, creatively writes non-fiction, watches a lot of movies, goes to comedy shows, dances to live music, adores street festivals, hangs out with her dog and friends for life and family (chosen and bio), and otherwise unwinds through the senses/lounges epically.

anti-dogma / anti-coercion

At this point in Kat’s journey as a human and therapist, Kat is particularly interested in dialectical approaches to thinking, being and engaging in therapy, management, supervision, training and consultation and seeks to approach all clients and colleagues with an open mind, free from the idea that there is only one right way, path, belief system, therapeutic approach, management or therapeutic style or philosophy to which all people must ascribe or adhere.

kat is a member of:

American Group Psychotherapy Association

Association for Size Diversity And Health

California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists

GAYLESTA: The Psychotherapist Association for Gender and Sexual Diversity

GREX West Coast Affiliate of A.K. Rice

Group Relations International

World Professional Association for Transgender Health

*Katherine Marie Zwick is the name associated with Kat’s licenses in CA, IL, WA and CO

**The business was first named DBA Katherine Marie Zwick (2016), then DBA Ride The Wave Recovery (2018), then Ride The Wave Recovery: Professional Clinical Counselor PC (2019)