Welcome to Zoe Shulman Art Therapy

I am a Jewish lesbian from Austin, Texas.  Growing up in the natural beauty of the central Texas Hill Country inspired me to become a professional artist.  In 2013, I earned my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing with a minor in Art History.  For nearly a decade, I exhibited and sold geometric abstract paintings and drawings at contemporary art galleries, small private museums, community centers, and colleges and universities.

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In 2019, I was formally diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder, and anxiety.  Through my healing journey with cognitive behavioral therapy and ketamine-assisted psychotherapy, I discovered my second passion for art therapy.  To integrate my ineffable trauma and ketamine-induced mystical experiences, I began drawing and painting my geometric hallucinations.  As I rendered each line, shape, and color, I remembered the thoughts and feelings that accompanied my hallucinations and began to write poetry about my newfound insights.  In discussing my poetry with my cognitive behavioral therapist, I compassionately reframed cognitive distortions and built more resilience around life's adverse experiences.  This process of expanding and empowering my consciousness allowed me to understand the role of art therapy in providing a visual bridge to verbal integration.  Thus, I realized that I wanted to become an art therapist to help others become more whole and heal in similar ways!

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Currently, I am pursuing my Master of Arts in Art Therapy and Counseling with a Psychedelic Studies certificate at Southwestern College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.  As a budding art therapist, I have developed my therapeutic repertoire to embrace theoretical approaches such as the expressive therapies continuum, psychedelic-assisted therapy, Jungian psychoanalysis, internal family systems, cognitive behavioral therapy, narrative therapy, and somatic bodywork (i.e., yogic breathing, body scanning, bottom-up emotional processing, and mindfulness meditation).  In addition, I work hard to ensure that my therapeutic approaches are trauma-informed and multi-culturally aware of minorities and their respective social justice concerns.  Adult client populations that I will specialize in serving include the LGBTQIA+ community, religious and ethnoreligious minorities, the BIPOC community, women, the elderly, and psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy clients.  Further, I am best suited to assist those struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, anxiety, life transitions, career and identity development, or social injustice.  I aspire to facilitate clients’ engagement in art directives that can reveal the psyche’s archetypes and parts, reframe cognitive distortions, write new healthy life narratives, and regulate the body’s nervous system.  Ultimately, I believe altered states of consciousness, whether induced by psychoactive substances or creative flow states, can provide the neuroplasticity necessary to cultivate resilience and view life from new empowering perspectives.

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For a comprehensive discussion about my healing journey with ketamine, please listen to Episode 7: Art-Making as Psychedelic Integration and Trauma Resolution (44:50 min.) on the Integrating Psychedelic podcast, hosted by psychedelic therapist, Jenny Weinar.  Please see the image gallery below for a sampling of my psychedelic artwork!