Dr. Petra M.A. Pilgrim, MD

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Transforming Lives: A Specialized Approach to Recovery for Executives and Professionals 

New Canaan, Connecticut – Dr. Petra Pilgrim, MD, serves as the Director of Steward House at Silver Hill Hospital, where she spearheads an intensive residential program dedicated exclusively to the treatment of executives and professionals facing mental health challenges. The Steward House is a Silver Hill Hospital, Yale New Haven Health and Yale Medicine collaboration. This innovative program is designed to help leaders rediscover and strengthen the essential skills necessary for long-term recovery and overall wellness.

Academically. Dr. Pilgrim earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in English and Women and Gender Studies from Rice University in 2003. She then pursued her Medical Degree at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine, graduating in 2010. In 2015, she completed her residency in Adult Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine. In 2012, Dr. Pilgrim completed Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) training at Baylor College of Medicine. Continuing her education, she completed a 2-year fellowship in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy at the Houston Center for Psychoanalytic Studies in 2016. In 2017, Dr. Pilgrim completed certification to become a Certified Group Psychotherapist (CGP). In 2019, she received an Outstanding Educator Award from Baylor College of Medicine.

Board certified through the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, Dr. Pilgrim is an active member of several prestigious professional associations, including the American Psychiatric Association, the American Group Psychotherapy Association, and the American Psychoanalytic Association (serving as Co-Chair of the Psychotherapy Department and member of the APsA Fellowship Committee).

A warm and direct psychiatrist, Dr. Pilgrim emphasizes a hands-on approach to management and patient care. “My office is right here in Steward House with my patients,” she states. “I get to know them, and I work with them individually to accomplish their goals for treatment..” This personalized attention not only fosters trust but also enhances the therapeutic relationship, which is crucial for effective recovery.

In her multifaceted role, Dr. Pilgrim provides day-to-day medication management, directs programming, and facilitates both individual and group therapy sessions, in Steward House and in other areas of the hospital. “I can promise our patients that, if they are willing to receive and accept the therapy we provide, they will learn new ways of thinking as well as new ways of processing their life experiences,” she asserts. Her commitment to patient-centered care and her active involvement in treatment set Steward House apart from other mental health options.

Dr. Pilgrim believes that the combination of her onsite presence, the qualifications and dedication of her colleagues, and the intense, focused treatment offered in a short time frame position Steward House as an unsurpassed leader in specialized mental health treatment and recovery. “It’s a very unique setup – having this mix of inpatient and then residential treatment and then outpatient treatment – it’s an amazing continuum of care. You can’t find Silver Hill anywhere else in the country” she concludes.

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