About Holly
Holly Zazo, LMHC, ATR is a registered Art Therapist, Licensed Mental Health Counselor, and visual artist whose work is rooted in the belief that creativity is a powerful pathway to healing, self-discovery, and well-being.
Holly has been passionate about art from an early age. Her favorite gifts as a child were art supplies and she felt most at home in an art room. She attended a magnet visual and performing arts middle school and went on to receive awards for her photography and artwork in high school. In college, her academic path reflected curiosity and exploration—she studied fine arts, photography, ceramics, and interior design before ultimately graduating from Kent State University with a bachelor’s degree in Sociology. During this time, the pressures of critiques and the expectation to produce a polished final product gradually diminished the joy she once found in creating. Personal struggles with depression, anxiety and loss also contributed to her stepping away from her art-making practice for a number of years, though her connection to art never fully left her. Several years after graduating, unsure of her next step, Holly discovered the field of Art Therapy, in a magazine article her mother had mailed to her. She was immediately drawn to the idea of using art not as a commodity or performance, but as a healing tool—one that did not need to be explained, judged, or perfected. Through her own engagement with Art Therapy, Holly came to understand that she had stopped making art at a time when she had needed it most. Art Therapy offered the perfect intersection of her lifelong love of art and her deep interest in social issues, mental health, and helping others.
Holly earned her master’s degree in Art Therapy and Counseling from Ursuline College in Cleveland, Ohio. Her master’s thesis, The Experiences of Bhutanese Refugees Through Storytelling and Art, explored how Art Therapy can transcend language barriers when working with refugee and immigrant populations. She has since worked across a wide range of settings, providing trauma-informed care to individuals of all ages in medical, inpatient psychiatric, substance use, community mental health, and juvenile justice environments.
Holly’s professional experiences include serving on the palliative care team at Akron Children’s Hospital where she provided art therapy to patients, facilitated family support groups and led self-care groups for healthcare professionals experiencing burnout and compassion fatigue. She later provided outpatient counseling, intensive home-based therapy, and facilitated group therapy within inpatient drug and alcohol rehabilitation facilities, serving both adults and youth in the criminal justice system. Holly facilitated art therapy groups on acute inpatient psychiatric units at
Cleveland Clinic Lutheran and Cleveland Clinic Akron General Hospitals, where she served as part of the interdisciplinary treatment team. She has provided continuing education training clinicians in Art Therapy practices.
Now based in Naples, Florida, Holly works at her private practice, providing therapy to individuals and couples using a holistic, intuitive approach that integrates trauma-informed Art Therapy, Eye Movement Integration (EMI), Internal Family Systems (IFS), mindfulness, and somatic therapies. Since coming to Naples, she has collaborated with the Collier Children’s Advocacy Center, presented at Leadership Collier, and, through her partnership with United Arts Collier, facilitated Art Therapy groups at Youth Haven, the Baker Senior Center, and the Norris Center. Holly is deeply grateful for her connection with UAC in Naples, viewing this collaboration as a meaningful and purposeful step in her ongoing professional and creative journey.
As both a clinician and a visual artist, Holly continues to use art as an essential part of her own healing and well-being. Her personal art-making practice focuses primarily on painting and collage and is guided by an intuitive, process-oriented approach. She chooses colors, lines, and materials that speak to her and allows the artwork to become a space for working through feelings on the canvas. Holly approaches art-making as a conversation, with the art and within herself, placing no pressure on the finished product. Professionally, Holly views the therapeutic
relationship as a collaborative partnership grounded in respect and empowerment. She believes each client is the expert on their own life and inner experience, even when clarity feels out of reach. Holly’s role is to support, guide, and walk alongside clients as they uncover insight and healing- as they find the answers they seek. She fully believes, and understands firsthand, that the best way to find those answers is often not through words, but through art.
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