Petrona Joseph on Mental Health Healing and Building Emotionally Resilient Communities

By Tammy Reese | Friday, January 30, 2026 | Mind, Body, and Soul

Petrona Joseph’s work sits at the intersection of mental health, communication, and human connection and it’s changing the way people understand healing. A Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award recipient, Marquis Honoree, and award-winning Communications Strategist, Petrona brings both professional expertise and lived experience into every space she enters. As an MHFA-certified Mental Health Expert specializing in adult mental health and substance abuse, her voice carries clarity and compassion.

Through her books Unsafe Love: Healing from Trauma Bonds, Betrayal, and Unsafe Attachment and Stigmatized: Breaking the Silence and Demystifying Mental Illness, Petrona opens honest conversations about trauma, attachment, shame, and nervous system healing in a way that feels human, accessible, and grounded. Her work doesn’t speak at people, it speaks with them.

As a long-standing author, advocate, and educator, Petrona has delivered keynotes and workshops across North America, reaching over 10,000 participants, including a sold-out experience at Concordia University. Through Above Healing and Wellness, she continues to support schools, organizations, and communities in creating emotionally informed, resilient environments rooted in safety, regulation, and understanding.

In this conversation, Petrona shares her journey, her philosophy on healing, and the work she’s doing to help people build safer relationships with themselves and others, starting from the nervous system outward.

Tell us about yourself and the work that you do as a MHFA-Certified Mental Health Expert and Advocate.

Petrona: I’m a Mental Health First Aid–certified mental health expert and advocate who focuses on helping people understand trauma, attachment, and the nervous system in a way that’s practical and human — not clinical. My work centers on education, prevention, and healing: helping people recognize unsafe patterns, respond to mental health challenges with compassion, and build safer relationships with themselves and others. I bridge lived experience with evidence-based insight so mental health conversations feel accessible, grounded, and empowering.

You are also a communications strategist and author. How have these roles intersected for you when it comes to mental health awareness?

Petrona: Communications is about clarity, resonance, and impact — and mental health desperately needs all three. As a strategist, I know how narratives shape belief systems. As an author, I use storytelling to translate complex psychological concepts into language people can actually feel and apply. Those roles intersect in my ability to dismantle stigma, reframe harmful narratives around trauma and mental illness, and communicate healing in a way that meets people where they are.

What has your personal journey with mental health advocacy been like? Was there a moment or experience that motivated you to get involved?

Petrona: My advocacy grew out of lived experience. I’ve navigated trauma bonding, unsafe attachment, and the quiet normalization of emotional harm — experiences that are often misunderstood or minimized. At a certain point, healing stopped being just personal; it became ethical. I realized that naming these patterns publicly could interrupt cycles of harm for others. That was the turning point — when my private healing became public purpose.

Your books Unsafe Love and Stigmatized explore trauma bonds, attachment, and mental illness. Where can our listeners access your books and what do you hope they take away from them?

Petrona: Both books are available online through Amazon. Unsafe Love helps readers identify how early attachment wounds condition us to mistake chaos for connection, while Stigmatized examines how shame and societal narratives distort our understanding of mental illness. My hope is that readers leave with language for their experiences, compassion for themselves, and the clarity to choose safer, more regulated forms of connection.

As someone who has delivered keynotes and workshops across North America, reaching thousands of people, how do you define safe connection and nervous system regulation — both personally and professionally?

Petrona: Safe connection is consistency without fear, honesty without punishment, and closeness that doesn’t cost you your sense of self. Nervous system regulation, to me, is the ability to remain present without abandoning yourself — emotionally, physically, or psychologically. I teach people how to recognize when their bodies are signaling danger versus familiarity, and how to build relationships that feel calm, mutual, and sustainable rather than intense and destabilizing.

What does creating your own Bliss Section mean to you?

Petrona: Creating my Bliss Section means intentionally cultivating a life that supports regulation, joy, and truth — not performance or survival. It’s about designing internal and external environments where peace isn’t earned through suffering. Bliss, for me, is safety plus self-trust.

What upcoming mental health initiatives are you excited about for 2026?

Petrona: In 2026, I’m excited to expand my trauma-informed workshops, develop more accessible mental health education content, and collaborate with organizations that are committed to systemic change — not just awareness. I’m also continuing to build spaces that center attachment repair, nervous system education, and culturally grounded healing.

What advice would you offer to someone who is just beginning their mental health or healing journey?

Petrona: Start slow and stay honest. Healing isn’t about fixing yourself — it’s about listening to yourself without judgment. You don’t need to uncover everything at once. Safety comes before insight. And choosing support is not weakness; it’s wisdom.

What else would you like our listeners to know about you and the inspirational work you’re doing?

Petrona: At the core of my work is this belief: trauma is not a personal failure — it’s a nervous system adaptation. When we understand that, shame loosens its grip and real healing becomes possible. Everything I create is rooted in that truth.

How can our audience keep up with you and stay connected on social media?

Petrona: You can stay connected with me on social media where I share education, reflections, and upcoming events, as well as through my official website and newsletters. I’m active on platforms like Instagram and LinkedIn, where community and conversation are central to the work.

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Owner of Visionary Minds Public Relations and Media, Tammy Reese is an award-winning writer and journalist best known for landing major interviews with Angela Bassett, Sharon Stone, Sigourney Weaver, Laurence Fishburne, Geena Davis, Billy Porter, Morris Chestnut, Nelly, Mona Scott Young, Giancarlo Esposito, Luke Evans, Sheryl Lee Ralph, Jennifer Connelly, Joseph Sikora, Meagan Good, Leon, Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Phylicia Rashad, Omar Epps, Courtney Kemp, Vivica A Fox, Ryan Coogler, and so many more.

She is a proud member of ForbesBLK as well as New York Women in Film and Television.

Other articles by Tammy Reese in Vision & Purpose LifeStyle Magazine.

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