Matt Cantor
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This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
This professional is accepting new clients but may have a waitlist. Please enquire with them directly to discuss availability.
About me
I like to think that our emotions are like the weather. Sometimes it’s sunny and sometimes the clouds roll in.
It’s when the clouds are dark and heavy and don’t look like they’re going anywhere fast that we can start to worry.
Therapy is a process by which, together, we can start to explore why the clouds seem so stuck.
In my experience the exploration of your world by us together, thinking about what makes you tick and why you can’t seem to change fixed behaviours and thought patterns, can lead to you experiencing a happier and more grounded life.
I like to think of therapy as an adventure into peoples’ hidden worlds. Worlds that have always been there, but have been ignored for a long time.
This process of exploration with me as your co-explorer can help the clouds blow away more often and the sun to break through.
So if you’re feeling depressed, a bit lost, suffering from relationship difficulties or just aren’t sure who you are any more, please feel free to get in contact. I believe that together we can change things for the better.
How I Work
Being an integrative psychotherapist means that I am trained in various different styles of psychotherapy and apply these to clients in a way that feels right for the individual rather than a ‘one size fits all’ approach. My approach is open and exploratory and I work with a wide variety of problems including depression, relationship difficulties, eating disorders, sexual abuse, anxiety or just feeling a bit lost.
I usually suggest an initial session so that we can meet each other and you can get a feel for how I work and see if you feel that I would be the right therapist for you.
In my experience effective therapy is very much about how the therapist ‘fits’ with the client and the quality of the relationship, so it’s extremely important that you feel comfortable working with me, and if you do, then our exploration of your world can start.
I use various techniques in my work from free association to dream analysis to focusing on emotions in the body.
More importantly I like to stay free and fluid as I work as this allows our work together to be effective and not stuck in one approach that may not resonate with you.
I look forward to exploring your world with you.
Music Industry
Before my training as a psychotherapist, I worked for 20 years in the music industry. Although this was a fantastic experience that allowed me to travel the world, playing and making music as a producer and DJ, I also grew to understand that there are pressures and anxieties that go hand in hand with this lifestyle.
Status anxiety, performance anxiety, stress and burnout are just some of the difficulties that come with working in this often-hedonistic environment.
I have found that my career in the music industry has given me invaluable life experience that has proved especially useful when working with DJ’s and musicians.
My work can involve helping clients in the music industry to untangle their music industry persona from the self they have always been. This can be important in helping them to weather the highs and lows that this business invariably brings.
I am also part of MITC which is a collective of therapists that specialise in working with people from the music industry. Please see musicindustrytherapists.com for more information.
Training, qualifications & experience
I gained my PG Dip/Adv Dip in Integrative Psychotherapy from Regent’s University London. The course is UKCP accredited and lasted five years, incorporating numerous experiential elements, ensuring that I am professionally competent and able to work with the many different problems that can confront us. I am UKCP registered and abide by their code of ethics in practice. I am also a member of the BACP.
I have worked across a broad spectrum from counselling children for the Place 2 Be charity to working as a psychotherapist in an NHS drop-in centre for young people in crisis and participating in ward rounds at a psychiatric unit of an NHS hospital. I have also worked extensively at a London counselling service with people at the later stages in life who are ready to explore the way that they engage with the world in a different way.
Member organisations
school Registered / Accredited
Being registered/accredited with a professional body means an individual must have achieved a substantial level of training and experience approved by their member organisation.
The UK Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) is a leading professional body for the education, training and regulation of psychotherapists and psychotherapeutic counsellors. Its register is accredited by the government's Professional Standards Authority.
As part of its commitment to protect the public, it works to improve access to psychotherapy, to support and disseminate research, to improve standards and to respond effectively to complaints against its members.
UKCP standards cover the range of different psychotherapies. Registration is obtained by training or accrediting with one of its member organisations, or by holding a European Certificate in Psychotherapy. Accredited by the Professional Standards Authority.
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.
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.
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
Additional information
Fees on enquiry. I have a limited number of concessionary spaces available for students and people on a low income.
When I work
9-5pm
Further information
My Practice (Queen’s Park London NW6)
My counselling room is bright, airy and I believe conducive to opening up imagination and exploration whilst feeling safe and contained.
I am a ten minute walk from Queen’s Park tube station.