Having experienced more adversity than most in her lifetime, Petra Velzeboer has experienced depression, suicidal thoughts and growing up in a religious cult, living to tell the tale of her experiences. With such a past behind her, Petra is now working as a passionate mental health and resilience specialist who is empowering more open conversations about mental health and wellbeing. Also the proud author of 'Begin with You', her work is inspiring positive change throughout society and has allowed her to speak on the remarkable TEDx Talk stage. Now booked as a speaker for numerous corporate and public events, Petra covers topics such as mental health innovation, avoiding toxic work cultures, adversity and resilience.
Currently a Mental Health Consultant for Medigold Health, Petra also dedicates her time to acting as the CEO of Petra Velzeboer Ltd and the Wellbeing Director of My Whole Self. On a mission to help corporate clients and organisations adopt more sustainable mental health policies and strategies, Petra sits as the CEO of her company to aid clients in creating cultures that are more accepting and mentally friendly. Passionate to normalise the conversation about mental health, Petra is also the host of the Killing It: Adventures in Startups and Mental Health podcast and the Adversity to Advantage podcast.
Petra has quite an interesting back story after she grew up in a strict religious cult. Despite living a childhood that was full of great people, countries and blended families, Petra was also subject to strict punishment, ostracisation, and brainwashing. After living her whole life in a cult, Petra was left with little to no education and at 28 she felt as though she wanted to end her own life. Struggling with alcoholism, depression and suicidal thoughts, Petra decided that she would give herself a year to try and find a reason to keep living. Fortunately, Petra found the motivation to overcome her adversity and has since devoted her life to helping people uplift their mental health.
Since overcoming her demons, Petra has devoted her work to helping people battle their own challenges. She has formerly worked in roles such as a Clinical Director for Wellbeing Solutions Management, Counselling Manager for The Mix Charity, Senior Project Manager and Keyworker for Catch22, Counsellor for Wandsworth Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy and Regional Lead for Young Minds. She also attended the Birkbeck University of London from where she graduated with an MSc in Psychodynamics of Human Development and has since contributed to reports such as Seizing The Momentum, Business in the Communities and Thriving at Work. Over recent years, Petra has also been featured in Newsweek, the Huffington Post, BBC Radio, and Stylist to challenge behaviours and motivate leaders, employees, HR professionals and wellbeing champions to truly be the change they wish to see at work.
Having forged a respectable name as a mental health specialist, Petra is now booked as a speaker for corporate events to not only share her own story but to help others improve their own mental health. When booked as a speaker, Petra inspires and motivates audience members to overcome adversity, covering topics such as how to change your life, mental health innovation and resilience. Having formerly spoken for many prestigious clients, including PwC, Herbert Smith Freehills, Channel 4, Monzo Bank, Novartis, Accenture, Avanade, Eagle Eye, Financial Ombudsman and Havas Lynx group, Petra empowers businesses to have open conversations about mental health and to create a supportive, empathetic and more humane world. When booked as a speaker, Petra Velzeboer is the perfect speaker to share important conversations about mental health and wellbeing.
Books
Begin With You: Invest in Your Mental Wellbeing & Satisfaction at Work
How to hire Petra Velzeboer
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring Petra Velzeboer for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do not accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
Petra Velzeboer's official speaking topics are listed below:
Innovation & The New World of Work
The pandemic turned the world of work on its head, creating shock waves across the globe. This presented a unique opportunity to reevaluate the way we’ve always done work. Petra's background of being raised in a notorious cult and seeing many similarities in the world of work today, drives her to challenge outdated work practices and usher in a new way of working. In her signature keynote talk, Petra challenges companies to shift their focus and prioritise investment in human capital, wellbeing, and mental health. Petra's keynotes are uplifting, moving, funny and challenge audiences to cultivate mentally healthy cultures that promote innovation and sustainable performance for the future of work.
Wellbeing in Times of Change
Investing in your mindset and building resilience can be challenging during times of uncertainty, this keynote will help you tackle:
- The mental attitude necessary for evolving our approach to a new world of work
- Investing in your mindset to sustain success
- Creating a psychologically safe culture to help people thrive
- Retaining talent
- Effective change management
Building a Strategic Approach to Mental Health Awareness
Only focussing on mental health on awareness days is now seen as a tickbox and no longer sufficient for a post-pandemic world. Covid-19 has increased rates of poor mental health globally which means in order to evolve your workforce, this must be a key objective at all levels of the business including Senior Leadership, HR and your Mental Health Champion Networks: This talk will:
- Provide mental health awareness to all levels of the business
- Highlight the benefits of a mental health plan and simplify the steps to creating one
- Offer insight on supporting others who may be struggling with their mental health
- Bring this strategy to life for employees, wellbeing leads and management
Building Grit in a Noisy World
Stress and building resilience are big buzz words in organizations. We want our people to be able to handle what life throws at them and thank us for the opportunity! This talk provides practical tools for managing stress, avoiding burnout and developing a mindset that sustains long term success. It includes:
- Practical tools for building resilience and developing self awareness
- Reframing our leadership approach to one of courage and vulnerability
- Understanding burnout and the physiological impact of long term stress
- Intentional investment in our wellbeing
Managing Remote Teams
In a hybrid world, building remote culture and managing remote teams is a crucial skill to ensure talent retention and high productivity. This talk includes:
- Leadership skills for a hybrid world
- Building culture, trust and psychological safety
- Practical check in exercises and questions
- Top Tips for effective team meetings
- Noticing poor mental health virtually - and what to do about it!
Leadership, Performance & Mental Health
Many leaders and managers are tired, burnt out and feeling compassion fatigue! It seems the role has expanded to include emotional support, listening and making sure everyone else is ok. Well what about you?? This talk highlights the pressure leaders experience, how their mental health is more important than ever and how leading by example creates lasting culture change. Petra includes:
- Practicing empathy is not being a pushover
- Understand limits and boundaries - and communicate them to your team
- Empowering employees to take personal responsibility for their wellbeing
- Leadership skills for a new world of work
- Expert advice on the line between performance and mental health
Official Feedback from In-Person & Virtual Events
"Petra is the rarest of keynotes; someone who knows the science but who also has lived experience on such an important topic. She is brave in her approach and this is perhaps the key lesson in opening up and addressing mental health work. She achieves a mix of levity and seriousness that T.S Eliot would be proud of and it's the first talk I have seen in a long time where none of the 300 attendees glanced at their phones or checked the time. This is such an important topic that we need advocates such as Petra to open up the conversation in such a powerful, practical and ultimately uplifting way." - Business Analysts Annual Conference 2022
"Could I ask you to pass on my huge thanks to Petra on behalf of Edrington. Her session was excellent, she is a wonderful speaker and facilitator and the audience feedback was wonderful" - Lorna, Edrington
"We had good feedback and it was interesting to hear Petra's story. It was easy to book... we would definitely book again" - Kim, HR Business Partner, Bank ABC
"This was probably the most moving, honest and powerful session that I have ever attended" - Herbert Smith Freehills
"PVL is a true partner, bringing awareness and sustainability of employee wellbeing into organisations" - Channel 4
"Petra's keynote speech at the Una Conference was incredible. She was funny, engaging, to the point and actually knows what she's talking about! I feel that she's given me everyday tools to start making mental health a daily conversation with friends, family and colleagues" - Philippa, TL Dallas Group
"I thought PVL's training was excellent, one of the best training sessions I have probably ever attended. It was both informative but enjoyable and I only wish the training could have lasted longer" - Melissa, Amey Construction
"“We wanted to close our conference with a memorable moment – and Petra delivered on an often-ignored issue: our mental health. With positive vibes, an energetic speech, get-together touchy moments and many wake-up calls, the participants were taken on an emotional roller-coaster of positive attitudes towards our… mind." - UNIBA Partners
"We invited Petra to speak at a conference with 50+ construction staff & everyone was blown away by the insight that Petra offered into our own selves. It was almost astounding to watch the shift in the room as it became ok for everyone to talk to each other. We are fortunate that this has reflected positively in productivity and we are hopeful that with Petra’s ongoing support, this dynamic has permanently changed for the better." - Ben Ward, Managing Director, The Built World
"“We invited Petra to speak at our Mental Health Awareness event on dealing with stress and were blown away by her incredible unique story and her authenticity. She is an accomplished presenter and coach who provided a tonne of practical advice on how to look after your mental health told through unforgettable stories and analogies. We’re now getting her back in to be part of our leadership development curriculum." - COO, Monzo
