We recently connected with Mateja Petje and have shared our conversation below.

Mateja, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today If you had a defining moment that you feel really changed the trajectory of your career, we’d love to hear the story and details.

I have always been passionate about helping others. I was born in Slovenia where I obtained my BS in English and education and I moved to Florida in 1997. While being engaged in my own therapy, I decided to become a therapist myself. Looking back, it was a blessing in disguise, as it gave me meaning and purpose after healing from my own trauma.

The defining moment was when I realized that my husband was just another abusive and narcissistic man. This was only being in the US for a month. I hit my bottom and realized that I need to change myself and learn how to love myself and let go of feeling like a victim of my past. Somebody invited me to meditation practice and this was the beginning of reinventing myself. In addition to therapy, a big part of my journey has been adopting meditation and spiritual practice that has served me well for over 25 years now. I am grateful to hundreds of my clients who finally healed from trauma, utilizing my holistic and integrative medicine approach.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Initially, I specialized in marriage and family therapy, but I discovered that my passion lies in helping people heal from childhood trauma and abuse. This often manifests as chronic anxiety, depression, and relationship challenges. I was not too happy with the results of traditional talk therapy, so over the last 20 years, I developed my own holistic approach that combines cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) and solution-focused therapy with energy medicine, neuro-linguistic programming (NLP), and hypnosis. I have been told by my clients that I am kind, compassionate, wise, and resourceful.

I am always learning and studying top approaches in behavioral science and energy medicine. My next goal is to become certified in psych-K, which is a method of creating awareness and changing limiting beliefs. These limiting beliefs about ourselves and the world are the root causes of many mental health disorders and have an effect on overall wellbeing and success in life.

I relate to my clients on many levels due to my own trauma and abuse history growing up. I believe that we all deserve to live happy and fulfilling lives. I am comfortable working with people from all walks of life regardless of their culture, gender, socioeconomic status, sexual orientation, and religion or spirituality. I attract immigrants, as I am myself an immigrant and understand the unique challenges of assimilation. I am open-minded and have studied different religions and spiritual practices including Zen Buddhism and Hinduism. I am involved with the Art of Living Foundation and am planning to become a meditation teacher.

I offer a free 15-minute phone consultation to determine if we are a good match. My services are only virtual at this time.

What’s been the most effective strategy for growing your clientele?

I have been following many spiritual teachers such as Deepak Chopra, Wayne Dyer, Louise Hay, Eckart Tolle, and many others. I have also been following Dr. Joe Dispenza and Dr. Bruce Lipton. They both work with the subconscious mind using the principles of epigenetics and quantum physics. I have done training in EFT – tapping and energy medicine by Donna Eden.

Changes need to be done on a subconscious level by reprogramming our beliefs. This is what makes me different from other more traditional therapists as I integrate mind-body modalities which are especially important in treating trauma resulting from childhood abuse and trauma.

I also worked with business coaches and I am currently in another business coaching program as I believe in always upgrading my skills including business and marketing skills.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

I grew up in a dysfunctional family with multi-generational trauma. My mother never healed from her trauma and she was physically, emotionally, and verbally abusive to me. My Father never protected me and I was also sexually molested by my uncle and experienced a bad car accident at 3 years old. I was fortunate that I was very close to my grandmother who was the only secure and nurturing person in my life.

I have always been resilient and resourceful so during my teenage years I made a decision to leave home as soon as; possible which I did when I graduated from college, I developed a keen interest in how people heal emotionally. It seems that I intuitively knew that I need to connect to others that I felt safe with and always had close friends growing up and some of them I am still friends with for over 30 years. Most of all, I have always believed in a better life and even though it took a lot of sacrifice and many failed relationships, I can honestly say that I finally love myself.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.naturalstressmanagement.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/holisticpsychotherapistmateja
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/holisticcoachinginternational/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matejapetjelmft/
• Twitter: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matejapetjelmft/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKvjkZE2oEt_M2LpSq9ukPQ