Meet Patricia Timerman Barbosa Da Silva | Psychotherapist and Author

We had the good fortune of connecting with Patricia Timerman Barbosa Da Silva and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Patricia, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
When I first started working, my work life balance was very imbalance. Growing up, I had it ingrained that works comes first and play/ life comes second, that you need to work in order to make money in order to live. As a result, I prioritized work for many years. Another factor that played into this imbalance is the fact that I own my own business. As many business owners would agree, owning our own business is a 24/7 job. We are constantly thinking about it, learning new things, and having to deal with unexpected issues we were unaware of. About 4 year ago, I started putting boundaries for myself to help manage my work/live balance. I made the decision that I wanted to work and live simultaneously. This included implementing boundaries regarding time: when I start working, when I stop working, allowing myself to have time for self as opposed to quickly donate my time to others, choosing what is priority for me, and understanding that exception do happen, but it they are happening too often, it is not an exception, it’s a rule.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
I opened Advocate2Create in 2012. The reason for the name is because I truly believe in advocacy. When I first moved to the U.S. at age 14, I did not speak English, and I felt silenced by my inability to communicate. I was embarrassed and afraid of speaking, causing me to retrieve from social experiences. I hated it. In Brazil I was an extrovert, so this was a complete 180 for me. Once I started to speak the language and get more comfortable with speaking, I found my voice and I wanted to make sure that I never lost it again. I created Advocate2Create to help people find their voices and advocate for themselves. I believe this influenced my fascination with communication, leading me to develop the IAP Model: Intention Action Perception, from my book “Why Are We Fighting? Actionable Strategies for Effective Communication.” I also believe this is the reason I gravitate towards working with grief, specifically disenfranchised grief such as suicide grief, as well as trauma survivorship, including my work with composing clinical evaluations for immigration purposes. When experiencing trauma or complex grief, we go through moments of darkness and isolation. We often fee alone, unseen, and unheard. Being able to express our experience without judgement and being normalized, helps us find our voice and who we are as a survivor of our trauma. We learn to advocate for ourselves. My goal, being it through my book, through the trainings I offer, or through direct psychotherapy services, is to help people learn to advocate for themselves in effective ways to help foster positive relationships with self and others.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Given I live in Florida, we would definitely go to the dog beach, so I can take my dog, and then grab a bite to eat at Tikki Tikki. I also like active things, so we would definitely go indoor rock climbing at The Edge Rock Climbing and then pass by Tacos and Tattoos on the way back. Since I am a big fan of game nights, we would definitely do snack at the house with games, including Taboo, Password, Guessture, uno…

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My husband for sure, Renato Barbosa da Silva. He is my rock, my person, my hero. He helps me be the best version of myself.

My family of course. My Grandfather, Charles Grunfeld, is a major influence in my life, and my sister, Andrea Timerman Wassermann, is my biggest cheerleader.

Another major player in my professional life is my former clinical supervisor, Dr. Silvia Reyes, whose guidance and supervision led me into opening Advocate2Create.

Website: www.Advocate2Create.com and Advocate2Create.Teacheble.Com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/advocate2create/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/16129087/admin/dashboard/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Advocate2Create/ and https://www.facebook.com/people/Dr-Timerman/61575513854071/

Image Credits
Sharon Mariana Sanchez Ochoa for image graphics