Zina Ortiz, LPC

Zina Ortiz is a licensed professional counsellor and the founder of Elephant In The Room, a trauma-focused group practice serving Denver and Lakewood, Colorado, in person and by telehealth. She specialises in childhood and developmental trauma, or complex PTSD, and offers ketamine- and cannabis-assisted somatic therapy.

Approach

She holds an MA in counselling psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute, is certified in EMDR through the Maiberger Institute in Boulder, and trained in REBT at the Albert Ellis Institute, in Rapid Resolution Therapy (with Dr Jon Connelly), Sensorimotor Psychotherapy and the Developmental Needs Meeting Strategy. She facilitates Psychedelic Somatic Interactional Therapy, which works with body sensations and relational techniques, using cannabis or ketamine; she says she chose those two because both are legal and because their dissociative effect can help people reach dissociated parts. She says talk therapy helps people understand and validate what happened but is not enough on its own to resolve trauma, anxiety or depression. Every clinician in the practice is trained and supervised by her.

Who it is for

The practice treats complex trauma, PTSD, anxiety and depression, and the team also uses Brainspotting, Somatic Experiencing, hypnotherapy, CBT and mindfulness meditation. Ortiz holds counselling licences in Colorado, Texas and Arizona.

Practical details

Standard therapy costs $120 to $150 per 50-minute session, and trauma therapy in her PSI model $200 an hour, for a minimum of three hours. Therapy, preparation and integration can happen in person or by telehealth, but medicine sessions are in person only. The practice takes Aetna, Anthem BCBS, Carelon, Colorado Access, Kaiser Permanente and Medicaid, and offers superbills and self-pay. A free consultation comes first.

Care and safety

The practice states that it complies with Colorado cannabis law and federal rules, works as a harm reduction service, and neither provides nor sells cannabis.