Zuzzie Kapas, MBA

Zuzzie is a Somatic Integration Specialist supporting patients in treatment for mental health at in-patient, higher acuity residential, partial hospitalization and intensive outpatient treatment programs. Zuzzie holds a B.S. in Behavioral Neuroscience (2007), an MBA in Organizational Development (2012) and a post-graduate certificate in Somatic Psychotherapy (2020). With over a decade of experience in somatics, expressive arts and foundational background in behavioral neuroscience, Zuzzie offers enriching therapeutic groups and individual sessions that promote psychological healing and integration.

Zuzzie began her career as a research scientist working in a Neuroscience and Behavioral Genetics laboratory studying the effects of addictive substances on the brain. Her work evaluated various treatment options to reverse brain damage and induce healthy neuroplasticity after prolonged exposure to alcohol and cocaine.

Zuzzie actively participated in her community by volunteering at local shelters supporting women and children survivors of domestic abuse. Being a passionate promoter of chemical-free living all around, she also supported a variety of local environmental sustainability initiatives.

Zuzzie continued her graduate studies in the sector of Sustainability Management and earned an MBA in Organizational and Human Development, upon which she worked as a team building and business development coordinator at a sustainability consulting firm. Interested in conscious leadership practices, Zuzzie trained in Mindfulness and Somatic Coaching for Business Professionals. She established Integrated Conscious Leadership, through which she offered her services as an independent contractor.

In 2012, Zuzzie simultaneously branched out into the terrains of somatic work by dance and movement arts. Training in Body-Mind Centering®, Contact Improvisation, Gaga, Authentic Movement and Joged Amerta, as well as an underwater somatic modality called Aguahara, opened new pathways to a deeply personal psycho-somatic journey, which profoundly enriched Zuzzie’s somatic expertise. Over the next years, Zuzzie traveled globally to practice, teach and collaborate with numerous well known teachers. She developed her own body of work and facilitated a variety of somatically focused movement workshops across the globe. Encouraged by the feedback of her workshop participants, Zuzzie continued to investigate the psychological implications of her work and decided to take it further in this direction.

In 2019, Zuzzie took a step towards applying her somatic expertise in a psychological setting. To gain a better understanding of the most current somatic practices utilized in mental health, she completed a post-graduate certificate in Somatic Psychotherapy at Antioch University. In addition to a decade’s worth of somatically focused work, Zuzzie also started to incorporate the use of mental health specific somatic modalities, such as Dr. Peter Levine’s Somatic Experiencing and Dr. Pat Ogden’s Sensorimotor Psychotherapy, in conjunction with Dr. Allan Schore’s Affective Neuroscience and Trauma Theory.

As a Somatic Integration Specialist at PCH, Zuzzie offers somatically focused group and individual sessions. She facilitates a variety of body-oriented support groups that engage clients in a self-reflective process. In addition, Zuzzie facilitates Dr. Marsha Linehan’s Dialectical Behavior Therapy, providing clients with useful skills focused on mindfulness, emotion regulation, interpersonal effectiveness and distress tolerance. Zuzzie continues to refine her understanding of mental health disorders and is dedicated to expanding her therapeutic approach by the most up-to-date methods in the field.

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