Zoe McGrady 'Did Some Therapy' After Grant’s Bachelor Season 'Re-Triggered' Issues She Already Healed from (Exclusive)

Zoe McGrady is a new woman.

Months a year after fans watched the 27-year-old come in third on Grant Ellis’ season of The Bachelor, she tells PEOPLE about her decision to give love another chance on Bachelor in Paradise.

While her previous experience on the franchise wasn’t entirely positive, McGrady says she took time to work on herself before heading back into the dating pool.

“We did some therapy,” she reveals. “It was a tough season, and I think I had done a lot of healing prior to the season, and a lot of things happened that had re-triggered some things for me. So I think it was good to just refocus and get back to my center.”

McGrady became a controversial contestant during her time on The Bachelor for prioritizing her time with Ellis over the other women's.

When she was ultimately sent home, she says she leaned on her loved ones for support while she dealt with the aftermath.

“I would say I'm extremely resilient time and time again,” she explains. “Obviously I didn't find love, and then to kind of see it all back and then also get commentary from the entire world was hard — not the hardest thing I've been through."

"But I think how you handle every situation, and how you handle the things that you can't control, and knowing who you are is a testament of really who you are," she adds.

Putting herself back out there so soon after heartbreak, she notes, is “a sign of how much growth” she’s been through.

She further explains that she is hopes to find someone that will “choose me from the start” after she left The Bachelor feeling like that hadn’t been the case. 

“I'm still looking for the same person I was last season,” McGrady continues. “I want someone who is funny, who is intelligent, who is driven and also someone who is protective. I want a man who sees my value as a woman and lets me be in that feminine energy, but also allows me to be me, which is a bold, powerful woman who doesn't need a man but wants one.”

She also knows what she doesn’t want in her future partner: a man who makes “cringy TikToks.”

“It can't be unseen,” she jokes.

In the season 10 premiere of the Bachelor Nation spinoff series on Monday, July 7, McGrady was happy to welcome Dale Moss into the mix, saying, “He is someone I think almost all of us had our eye on.”

However, when he ultimately chose Kat Izzo for a one-on-one date, McGrady gave her rose to Brian Autz.