45: Laura Petracek, PhD, LCSW – Clinical Psychologist and Addiction Specialist Shares her Journey and New Book The DBT Workbook for Alcohol and Drug Addiction

Masters in Psychology Podcast

Dr. Laura Petracek is a clinical psychologist, addiction specialist, certified Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) therapist, author, and speaker with over 30 years of experience in psychotherapy, 26 of which have been spent as a practicing clinical psychologist in California. In this podcast, Dr. Petracek recalls her academic and professional journey, discusses the circumstances leading up to her opening her own private practice, then provides some highlights and background regarding her new book The DBT Workbook for Alcohol and Drug Addiction. When discussing how she ended up in the clinical psychology field of psychology, she states, “Sometimes I don’t know if I chose the field or if it chose me.” She shares that at the age of 17, she went into drug and alcohol rehab and through that experience, she knew that she wanted to be a counselor then a therapist. So, after getting out of rehab, she immediately started her undergraduate work. She received her associates in chemical dependency counseling at Metropolitan Community College (now called Metropolitan State). Dr. Petracek then received her bachelor's degree in psychology from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN. She received her Master of Social Work (MSW) in Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies from Wurzweiler School of Social Work in New York, NY. She then attended the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) in San Francisco, CA for her PhD in Clinical Psychology. She and her cohorts at CIIS were the last group to receive a PhD in clinical psychology as the program is now a PsyD program. We discussed the differences between a PhD and a PsyD and why she chose the PhD route. Although Dr. Petracek could have received a doctorate in social work, she admits that was not the area she wanted to be in as she knew she wanted to eventually go into private practice. Before she did this, though, she gained a tremendous amount of experience as a clinical director of New Leaf Services, Associate Professor at National University, and psychologist with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation at San Quentin, CA. She has had her own private practice in the San Francisco Bay area for over 26 years. Dr. Petracek discusses her private practice and the challenges of building a private practice in a new area. She offers advice to those who are interested in running their own business and explains what she did regarding how to handle the accounting, marketing, and other aspects of owning your own private practice. For example, she recommends joining a group practice at the very beginning of your career as this offers you many benefits (e.g., learn more about running a business, sharing ideas through consultation work, help you understand how to determine how many clients to take on, build your client list, etc.). She also describes her ideal therapist. When describing her ideal therapist, she states, “someone who is knowledgeable in different theories of psychology and psychotherapy…someone who is not afraid to call me on my BS if it comes up” and someone who “offers compassion, but is challenging” and “supportive.” Dr. Petracek shares that she has been in therapy herself and states “my last therapist, he helped me tremendously through a challenging time when my daughter, only daughter, had left home for college and it was just a really rough time.” As a result, she went into a six-month DBT program. She explains that DBT is usually a six-month program but sometimes it is a six-month to a year program. Dr. Petracek discusses evidence-based therapies such as DBT, which is an extension of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). The experience she gained going through the DBT program herself, getting certified as a DBT therapist, and her years of experience helping treat those with addictions all acted as the impetus and spark which led Dr. Petracek to combine the strategies and tools available in ...