Founders Story- Discovering Therapy
You might be wondering, why I chose this field. Due to my own trauma history, I’ve always been interested in how people heal from emotional and relational trauma, especially childhood abuse and neglect I’ve been suffering from anxiety all my life which I believe started even in utero. As a result of childhood trauma, I also developed depression and eventually PTSD.
Nobody even knew much about PTSD and I did not go to therapy until I moved to the US at age of 29 when my marriage broke down due to ongoing abuse. My ex-husband was an alcoholic and a gambler as well. I hit rock bottom so to speak and I knew I need to do something different. This was really the beginning of my healing journey and becoming a therapist was a blessing in disguise as I wanted to offer my clients what I had learned going through my own healing journey.
Mental Illness Spanning Generations
I grew up in Slovenia, which is former Yugoslavia. There have been wars, addictions, PTSD, and violence. In my family on my mother’s side, there are at least 6 generations of violent alcoholics. My parents married very young and even though they did the best they could, my mom never healed her own trauma. Therefore, I became a target for her violent outbursts and criticism and emotional and verbal abuse.
Furthermore, my father was emotionally shut down and never protected me. In addition to that, I experienced other traumatic events including a bad car accident when I was 3 years old and my father was driving. I never understood why I was so scared of driving that I became paralyzed. I felt a lot of shame as nobody understood why this was happening. Only when I did hypnosis, I finally understood why I had fear of driving.
My Therapy Journey
In my quest for wisdom, and in my search for answers to my symptoms, I was in traditional “talk therapy” for many years, with very limited results. I said to myself, there must be a better way. You see, our memories are stored in our subconscious mind and many of us cannot remember traumatic events as we were too young and we repressed them. Talk therapy really cannot work for those kinds of memories. The best approach that worked for me and my clients is hypnosis in combination with Cognitive behavioral therapy and body-mind modalities, such as yoga, tai chi, chi gong, and EFT tapping.
I studied Holistic and Integrative medicine for my own therapy needs. My ultimate goal was to be completely healthy but to do so naturally. Instead of having to rely on medicine that was prescribed for my symptoms of chronic anxiety and depression. As a result of my training as a Healer, Therapist, and Hypnotist I adopted a natural approach. Doctors have the “take a pill” mentality which has no appeal to me whatsoever.
Integrating Eastern & Western Medicine
However, I wanted to go further and integrate the best of what Western AND Eastern medicine had to offer. You see my East and West blend of medicine would be combined together with a holistic approach in mind. With this newfound knowledge, I had researched and absorbed I was empowered & enlightened.
Fortunately, for my clients, as a Therapist, I’ve developed my own approach to therapy over the years and I’m proud to share the results. In closing, I’m Mateja Petje. Let me take the opportunity to thank you for wanting to learn more about me and my services.