Petra Velzeboer (Culture)
Petra Velzeboer is a global keynote and TEDx speaker, author, mental health consultant, and executive coach dedicated to transforming workplace cultures. After overcoming profound ...
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Who are you?
My name is Petra Valour and I am a mental health and leadership expert, a psychotherapist. I'm also a mother of two. I also grew up in a cult and have a master's in psychodynamics of human development.
What is your background?
So my background actually started in youth work. It then moved into young people's mental health and then university students. I think I've spanned all the mental health sort of angles. I then moved into employee wellbeing and leadership, and I guess I started my own business, PVL. Off the back of a little bit of frustration, I felt like I was working for companies that were telling other people what to do but not doing it themselves. And so I started PVL because I thought there must be a way to not only teach people, but to lead by example and create a positive, mentally healthy culture ourselves. And that's what we've done.
What is a mentally healthy culture?
A mentally healthy culture is where people can feel safe enough to be themselves, to have a voice, to do their best work, and where the vision is clear, where people know what direction they're heading in, and where leaders really take accountability for the culture. A mentally healthy culture is thinking about everyone. It's about discussing good mental health, being open with each other and knowing that we're all human. We all have lives and things that are going to go on for us, which might move us up and down every once in a while, but when we can have that open space to support each other, that's where everyone can thrive and excel. And if you've got an off day, that's okay because the team will help pull you up.