Petra Velzeboer

Petra Velzeboer is a Clinical Director at Wellbeing Solutions, Podcast Host, and CEO of Mental Health Consultancy PVL. She has built a glistening career despite having a very difficult upbringing. She is a workplace mental health expert and a visionary in the field. She is profound in her speaking and full of useful advice. She experienced hardship and mental health difficulties at a young age but preserved and went on to study and achieve an MSc in Psychodynamics of Human Development. When booked as a speaker Petra is dynamic and practical, audiences leave her talks with useful advice and actionable takeaways.

Petra was raised in a religious cult in Brazil, escaping when she was 22 years old. She has personally experienced some of the most severe mental health lows imaginable – extreme depression and suicidal thoughts and chronic isolation. Bravely, she decided if she could survive one more year, she would be able to postpone taking her life, and she took herself on a journey to pull herself out of the deep and dark place she was in. She pushed through educated and forged a career for herself fuelled by her curiosity to understand the mind. To that end, she went on to become an expert in building psychological safety, managing remote teams and effective change management.

Her experience in negative toxic cultures in the cult lends curiously lends itself to understanding toxic work environments and what is required to overcome them. She speaks about this and more on the Spotify podcast “Killing It: Adventures in Startups and Mental Health”. In her professional life she is a Counsellor for the Wandsworth Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy, also, holds a position as the Senior Project Manager and Keyworker for Catch22, she also runs her own professional consultancy PVL where she is the CEO, the practice focuses on supporting businesses to create sustainable long term mental health strategies. Her team have worked with leading brands including national television channel Channel 4.

After years of work, Petra has built an illustrious career she has delivered and supported people across the world from Singapore, London and South Africa and Europe. Her keynotes are centred on building mental resilience, particularly during times of uncertainty.  For businesses, she is an expert in offering strategies to support employees in times of need and in retaining talent. As a speaker, she is extremely well versed, whether in person or virtually. She has delivered on the TEDx stage and is as entertaining as she is educational.

In November 2023 we sat down virtually with Petra Velzeboer and discussed how she was able to escape the cult she was raised into as well as her top tips for businesses that are wanting to support their employees mental health. Watch our Exclusive Interview with Petra Velzeboer!