Minter Dialogue with Petra Velzeboer

Petra Velzeboer is a renowned author, psychotherapist, TEDx speaker and CEO of Mental Health Consultancy PVL. Born into a notorious cult, Petra was raised in a strict environment where individuality and self expression were discouraged. Travelling the globe, she learned firsthand about cultures and people but was sheltered from education, books or friendships outside of the community. Leading a double life for many years, she knows firsthand the toll it takes to wear a mask of conformity on one side while leading a hedonistic escapist life on the other. In this conversation, we discuss her new book, Begin With You, from Kogan Page. We delve into the cult world, what distinguishes a cult from a tribe or community, an appropriate definition of mental health, the importance of adversity in building resilience, how to stop being a victim despite horrible circumstances and how to improve our mental health.

If you've got comments or questions you'd like to see answered, send your email or audio file to nminterdial@gmail.com; or you can find the show notes and comment on minterdial.com. If you liked the podcast, please take a moment to go over to Apple Podcasts or your favourite podcast channel, to rate/review the show. Otherwise, you can find me @mdial on Twitter.