Matt Brooks
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This professional is available for new clients.
This professional is available for new clients.
About me
Recognising the need for, and asking for help are courageous steps. As an integrative-relational counselor and psychotherapist specialising in working with addiction and psychological trauma I want to honour that courage by offering a safe, non-judgemental and supportive space to help you explore your difficulties, understand their causes and make positive changes in your life.
Life can place many challenges in our path. Some of them might be ‘in the moment’, in response to recent events such as bereavement or redundancy, and others may have been part of your life for a long time - such as family / relationship issues. You may be experiencing behaviours that are baffling, that you return to despite efforts to stop, or struggling with emotional responses and reactions that don't seem to 'fit' with what is happening around you. Coping strategies that once reliably helped and worked, such as drugs and alcohol, gambling may now be part of the problem and costing you more than money. I will work with you to help you identify your goals and support you in making the positive changes that move you towards those goals.
I draw upon a variety of therapeutic theories and practices to best support your needs. This includes working with aspects of your relationship with me - the therapeutic relationship - which I believe has the power to heal. I offer a confidential, warm and safe non-judgemental space in which I will listen to and hear you. I will encourage you to explore and understand your experiences and will be alongside you as you do so. This may involve seeking to understand how your early lives, experiences and relationships influence your experiences and relationships today. When appropriate, I may invite you to try somatic bodywork techniques that promote regulation of nervous system / emotional activation and can help to relieve the ongoing symptoms of trauma and post traumatic stress through the tracking of the internal felt-sense. Whilst not a replacement for a 12-Step sponsor, I can work with the 12-Steps and can support you with the challenges that you may encournter and help you to integrate them into your life
I work on the basis of both a short, fixed-term counselling as well as open-ended long-term counselling, either an in-person or online via Zoom. If you would like to contact me, you can do so, in confidence by phone or email for an initial free consultation.
Alongside my private practice, I work at The Priory Woking, helping to deliver the 12-Step based Addiction Treatment Programme (ATP), supporting addicts to find sobriety and to begin addressing their underlying issues and commence a new way of life.
Training, qualifications & experience
Since mid 2021 I have been working as an addictions therapist in residential treatment centres and am currently part of the team delivering the intensive inpatient 28 day 12-Step based Addiction Treatment Programme to adult clients at The Priory Woking. Previous experience includes providing counselling to adult clients with a wide range of issues at a busy NHS GP practice and a local charity offering support to adult carers of family and friends.
As of January 2025, I am an Advanced Trainee (Year 3) in Somatic Experiencing.
Qualifications
- BA (Hons) Integrative - Relational Counselling, Middlesex University
Training & CPD
- Somatic Experiencing - Year 2 (of 3) Completed
- Introduction to Somatic Experiencing
- DBT Skills Training Essentials
- Working with Sex Addiction
- OCST4 - Webcam and voice only Online practice
- Working with Complex Grief
- Culture, Ethnicity & Faith in Counselling
- Loss and Bereavement - Grief in Lockdown
Member organisations
BACP is one of the UK’s leading professional bodies for counselling and psychotherapy with around 60,000 members. The Association has several different categories of membership, including Student Member, Individual Member, Registered Member MBACP, Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Accred) and Senior Registered Accredited Member MBACP (Snr Acccred). Registered and accredited members are listed on the BACP Register, which shows that they have demonstrated BACP’s recommended standards for training, proficiency and ethical practice. The BACP Register was the first register of psychological therapists to be accredited by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA). Accredited and senior accredited membership are voluntary categories for members who choose to undertake a rigorous application and assessment process to demonstrate additional standards around practice, training and supervision. Individual members will have completed an appropriate counselling or psychotherapy course and started to practise, but they won’t appear on the BACP Register until they've demonstrated that they meet the standards for registration. Student members are still in the process of completing their training. All members are bound by the BACP Ethical Framework and a Professional Conduct Procedure.
The Association for Counselling and Therapy Online
Accredited register membership
The Accredited Register Scheme was set up in 2013 by the Department of Health (DoH) as a way to recognise organisations that hold voluntary registers which meet certain standards. These standards are set by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).
This therapist has indicated that they belong to an Accredited Register.
Areas of counselling I deal with
Therapies offered
Fees
£60.00 per session
Free initial telephone session
Concessions offered for
Additional information
I offer both long and short-term in-person and online individual 1-2-1 counselling. Sessions are 50 minutes in length and typically take place at the same time and day on a weekly basis:
In Person and Online Sessions :
- £60 per 50 minutes session
Somatic Experiencing (SE) Sessions:
Whilst undertaking the trainining to become a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner I am offering SE sessions at a reduced rate of £50 per session
General Notes
Sessions must be cancelled with 48 hours notice, otherwise the appropriate full session fee will be charged.
I have a limited number of reduced cost spaces available for those on limited incomes. please ask for details.
Payment can be made by bank transfer or cash (for in person sessions only)
When I work
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Mon - Thus : 7pm - 9pm
Friday : 6:30 pm - 8:30 pm (Online)
Saturday : 11am - 1pm
Further information
I offer a free initial 15-20 minute phone call
I am a registered member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) and hold membership with the Association for Counselling and Therapy Online (ACTO) and am registered as and Advanced Practitioner with Addiction Professionals. I abide by the BACP ethical framework and am committed to providing a safe and confidential service. My work is supervised by a clinical supervisor.
I currently hold an enhanced DBS certificate for working with vulnerable adults
