kat zwick, ma, lpcc, cgp*
owner, consultant, trainer & dbt / adhd therapist
she/her, they/them
California LPCC #3334
Illinois LCPC #180.009215
Colorado LPC #0018232
Washington LMHC #LH61133379
Certified Group Psychotherapist
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.
certifications & training
Kat has been providing services in the mental health field since 2008. They had a varied life before that as a reproductive rights advocate, a non-profit worker and fundraiser, a politically oriented touring slam poet, a community builder and events organizer, a musician and singer, and a paralegal. They were also a temp receptionist at Outside Magazine for a hot minute in 2001.
Kat is a Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP) through the American Group Psychotherapy Association and has been a group therapist since 2009.
Kat has been leading and shaping DBT groups and programming since 2012, and they were trained under Dr. Ellen Astrachan-Fletcher in DBT for 3 years in Chicago, IL.
She is additionally trained in systems theory and application, group-as-a-whole theory and application, object relations theory and application, Martin Bohus’ DBT-PTSD protocol, and feminist psychotherapy, and she is functionally trained in Internal Family Systems (Level 1).
Kat began their training in gender affirming care in 2015 and joined the Santa Cruz Gender Diversity Consultation Group in 2017; they have attended multiple gender affirming care conferences, events and trainings since that time.
Kat was also formally trained for three years in the neuropsychological assessment and diagnosis of ADHD under licensed psychologist Paul Pasulka in Chicago, and they receive ongoing training and consultation in neurodiversity-affirming, solutions-oriented assistance for ADHD and other neurodivergent populations. Kat is currently engaging in intensive education and training to become a Certified ADHD Clinical Professional.
Kat has been working with Equity and Social Justice consultant, Dr. Winley K, for 3 years. Kat is invested in working with difference, justice, power and privilege in psychotherapy, management, consultation, and supervision relationships, and she has attended many trainings for clinicians, supervisors and employers oriented towards equity, diversity, inclusivity and justice throughout their career across multiple professions. Kat credits a significant amount of her adulthood thought- and action-learning in anti-racism to writer, performer, artist, and community organizer in Columbus, OH, Scott Woods, whom Kat has known and learned from for over 20 years.
experience leading & guiding
Kat worked for 7 years at the Residential, Partial-Hospitalization (PHP), and Intensive Outpatient (IOP) levels of care at treatment centers for eating disorders, mood disorders, substance use disorders, and complex trauma, providing group, family, and individual therapy as well as serving in advanced leadership roles.
They worked as a Program Manager, Clinical Director and then Executive Clinical Director overseeing and running all programming, clinical training, policies and procedures, and supervising and leading all staff at the branches they ran.
They were called in their leadership work towards change management in particular, assisting with or leading team building and organizational development, and helping “turn the tides” when teams, departments, branches or start-ups were struggling with staff teams, client milieux, and/or financially.
Kat views all systems at multiple levels, taking cues from restorative justice models and organizational dynamics to attend to persons within context. Kat provides discerning assessments of organizational systems to help identify and diagnose system challenges, parallel processes across subgroups, and propose a plan for growth-promoting, positive, strengths-based change.
From Spring 2017 through Spring of 2022, Kat ran 3 weekly long-term closed process groups for the Greater Santa Cruz community at RtW: Women in Recovery, Radical Recovery and Together in Recovery (all were inclusive of gender expansive individuals and Radical Recovery centered gender expansive, poly, kinky, and/or queer folx). These groups offered long-term relational, systems-oriented therapeutic work to diverse clients with diverse issues, and Kat emphasized transparency regarding authority, community, power, ethics, and privilege and how these realities impact individual and community mental health, the group itself, and the care relationship between Kat and group members.
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 makes original music and sings (currently on a jazz vocals kick), creatively writes non-fiction (essays and poetry), 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:
A.K. Rice Institute for the Study of Social Systems
American Group Psychotherapy Association
Association for Size Diversity And Health
California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists
Colorado Counseling Association
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)