Petra came to counselling and psychotherapy in a roundabout manner. After several years of teaching high school, she came to realize that what she loved most about her job was connecting with her students, understanding where they were coming from and helping them through the personal difficulties that they approached her with. And she realized that in order to be successful in school or work, an individual first needs to take care of their physical and mental health. So Petra went back to school and earned her Masters of Education in Counselling Psychology from OISE, University of Toronto in 2008. She joined the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario when it was proclaimed in 2015. Petra is so pleased to be at ONE Health Services, where the connection between health of body, mind, and community is understood and embraced.
Petra worked in a community agency for a number of years providing counselling/psychotherapy services to adults, couples and teens. She has in depth experience working with teens who have been in trouble with the law. In this capacity, she has been able to use her previous experience teaching in high schools to bring a unique perspective to therapy. Her work with adults includes a wide variety of issues ranging from anxiety and depression, to life transitions, to grief. She has experience working with members of the LGBTQ community on a variety of issues.
Petra believes that everyone has their own unique strengths and believes that we can draw upon these strengths to help us through our struggles and grow as individuals. She will help you identify those strengths and learn how to use them to your best advantage. Along with this strengths based perspective, Petra uses an integrative approach to psychotherapy including elements of cognitive behavioural therapy, emotion focused, interpersonal, solution focused and mindfulness-informed therapies. Petra brings a compassionate curiosity to her work and will work collaboratively with you to figure out which approaches are best suited to you.
