Real words from real people. Workshops in Florida. Conferences in India. Guest lectures in classrooms. Clinicians, chaplains, social workers, students. Nothing scripted. Just what came out of the process.
It’s so nice to see the work reflected. People can tell you ‘I see you’ all day. But for you to see yourself… I am that girl.
It made me think deeper. If you had to narrow it down to just one, that’s where it became challenging.
I might not be valuing the things I think I’m valuing.
I see myself here.
An approach that felt both innovative and deeply human.
The physical cards completely changed it. Sorting my values into categories made something abstract become real.
I like selecting the 10 core values, and then you said narrow it down to three. You can never lose three. And something for me will always stick out.
I started asking myself, is this something I value on a daily basis, or am I only valuing it because I see it in front of me?
I felt vulnerable in some categories. I didn’t want to admit it to myself. It’s accepting the fullness of who I am.
This is like a year’s worth of therapy in one hour.
Once you really know your values and you can look them in the face, this could help me as a mom, as a wife, as a worker.
When I first saw family, I felt so many layers. Family is a big value in my household. But when I read the back of the card, it was so expansive. Not just blood family, but community and chosen family. That really resonates.
It makes me question, what other stories are kind of rigid? Giving myself the permission to open up my mind a little bit.
When I think about the life I want to live, even as an elder, these are the things I would want to be more than anything else.
It heard me. It understood me. It validated me. Then it empowered me.
I always feel like I have to do something for people I love even if they don’t ask. Sometimes that becomes overpowering. You overstep boundaries before you realize it.
As an aspiring life coach, this system lets people help themselves make decisions, and they are more likely to stick with them.
Sometimes values are in the shadows. When they came to light, they aren’t really guiding me to the things I value most.
I hadn’t really connected the emotions to a value. It’s almost more caring in the way of talking to myself. This isn’t just fear. This is coming from a very real, protective place.
Black women have an unhealthy relationship with endurance. We will suffer through something just because. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Life could be a 10.
Because I seek this, I neglect this. That would be the value I wanted to work on the most.
I recognized I was emotional. When I recognized there was a breach, I looked through my cards. Security said ‘You can withstand harsh environments through preparedness.’ It heard me. It understood me. It validated me. Then it empowered me.
Angelia experienced a real-life challenge during a stressful moment. Instead of reacting, she turned to her SageGrove cards. What she found didn’t just calm her down. It gave her the language to understand what she was feeling and why.
This process gives me something to point to. In that moment it was transformational. I couldn’t shut down my emotions on my own. I read that card and said, oh, I can handle this.
This was the first time I actually understood how to USE my values in daily decisions.
It was beautiful to see what my values are and how I can use them, not only in my therapeutic practice but also to make everyday decisions.
You might see duty or family as separate, but in my mind, no. This is all connected. Rebellion is like a seed. It’s planted, it’s nourished, part of life’s process.
SageGrove gives me the words, the stories, and the confidence to step into decisions. This has an element of faith, because all these values are good.
Values function like an ecosystem. Much like how a fire poppy blooms after a wildfire, our values guide us through overwhelming situations.
If I keep the RV, I would be honoring two of my 10 values. If I sell it, I would be honoring nine.
I want to do this with my husband. I want us to map our values together so we can make informed decisions.
I’ve been struggling with this for two years. You helped me find a solution within two minutes. I feel like such a weight is lifted.
I watched Alex suffer for a year and a half trying to decide if she wanted to return to school. I’m so emotional to witness her make a decision in just a few minutes. This is amazing.
I’ve been going back and forth about this decision for over a year. This helped me reorient what I’m prioritizing. It helps me uncover all the BS and really get down to what I want.
I recently got to the point where any lie will trigger me. I used to let people lie on me. Now I stand on business.
Words feel insufficient to convey how thoughtful and impactful this tool is. To understand its essence, you need to experience a SageGrove session firsthand.
I thought it was going to tell me what I wanted to hear. Instead it told me what I truly valued.
Nature is used as a guide, reminding us that we are not learning something foreign but recognising something fundamental within us.
The cards are beautifully aesthetic. I like that you’re using elements of nature to represent these values.
It’s so much more immersive. It helps me visualize what exactly I’m appreciating. I feel like I’m thinking about things more intimately.
The nature connections make it stick.
I find it really meaningful using nature to reflect parts of ourselves.
Other values activities seem more individualistic.
I think it’s agnostic, regardless of culture.
SageGrove allows space for reflection instead of definition.
More than just an academic engagement. It opened up new ways of thinking and reinforced the importance of culturally rooted approaches.
This seems like a safe way to ask questions in different cultures. It lets you open up without having to share so much.
This allows you to be true to yourself without having to go into deep concerns. You can get to the heart of the matter.
The conversations challenged dominant mental health narratives and encouraged a more culturally sensitive way of understanding wellbeing.
Petra added valuable perspectives that deepened conversations around culturally grounded approaches to mental health and wellbeing.
I might not be valuing the things I think I’m valuing.
This work is especially powerful if you struggle with decision paralysis or feeling torn between what you should do and what feels internally aligned. It clarifies the why behind the what.
This makes it easier to help people come to their own conclusions. When you make a decision, you are more likely to follow through.
I feel lighter. I have released internally some tension. Being spiritually naked is one of the hardest things to do by yourself, but to have someone facilitate that process. This is exactly the kind of work I want to do.
I’m using this with clients at this place of liminality. I’m seeing the kind of change that makes clients leave and not come back, because you don’t need 21 sessions.
When you’re asking clients to make real change, what real change? I’m tired of performative healing.
What an incredible human and amazingly unique clinician with such wisdom and grounding presence. Her skills are unparalleled.
As clinicians, our responsibility to grow doesn’t stop with licensure, certifications, or years of experience. We owe it to ourselves and to the people we serve, to continue finding tools that meet us at the level we’re actually living and leading from.
Between Petra’s voice, presence, and passion, she invites you to lower your guard, lean in, and reclaim ownership of your identity. There’s a steadiness to how she holds space that makes reflection feel safe, grounded, and honest.
I’ve been in therapy since the age of 14. I’ve studied and used countless tools over the years. And this landed differently. Integrative, embodied, and future-oriented. Three hours wasn’t enough.
The workshop explored the concept of values as an ecosystem, much like building a tree, where we reflected on what values are thriving within us, which ones need attention, and how our values want to work together to help us reach our best potential.
Even though this was a mini-workshop, it offered deep insight and showed how creative, intentional, and effective this approach can be in helping individuals align with themselves in a meaningful way.
The path towards healing doesn’t always have to be traditional or linear.
Emotional release is viewed as a reconnection rather than a pathology, a perspective that deeply resonated with me and sparked my curiosity about holistic and collaborative psychological practices that are often misunderstood or underexplored.
I don’t know if people know what SageGrove can do. Today, for the first time, I was able to move past the story of performance anxiety and facilitate a training, flowing in my wild value of authenticity. I can’t thank you enough. I want more people to experience this.
Weeks after the workshop, Angelia used her identified values to push through a professional barrier she’d been carrying. Not in a therapy session. Not with a coach. On her own, with her grove.
You grasped people’s attention and left them with parting thoughts and emotions. You did that and then some.
Petra Wilkes, you are such an amazing force, full of inspiration.
You can’t have an ecosystem if you have nothing around it.
I feel very seen by the deck. When you brought in those four core values, I see that for myself. My deepest and strongest relationships, I’m seeing them too.
It required honesty, self-reflection, and letting go of values shaped purely by outward gaze.
That chart is glued to my mind now.
I do feel more clear. I feel very supported and held. This feels somewhere more solid.
It reinforced the importance of culturally rooted approaches in mental health practice and research.
It felt almost relaxing to see it all laid out. It really resonated with me and the way I live my life.
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