Matt Swift (He/him)

We all have anxiety from time to time but for some of us it seems to become our default state. Anxiety is a physiological, emotional, and mental response to threat. The first steps are creating a sense of safety allowing us to think clearly and respond rather than react. To do this we can use breathing, grounding, and mindfulness skills to be in the present. Building safe and supportive relationships helps to increase confidence in our resilience and to manage anxiety and keep it in perspective.

Codependency can take over our lives, putting us on the sidelines feeling unfulfilled and trying to manage other people’s feelings.

Codependency can take over our lives, putting us on the sidelines feeling unfulfilled and trying to manage other people’s feelings. We can explore these relational patterns and their origins to identify what is needed to develop healthy boundaries and put you back in the center of your life.

Addiction can be understood as a behavioral pattern of seeking an external solution for an internal need. Let’s explore what that need is and then we can find healthier ways to meet it. There are a vast number of resources and skills available to help with recovery from addictive patterns. Building safe and supportive relationships is a huge part of this. Recovery is possible, you are not alone.

DBT was developed to treat clients with profound relational trauma who suffer from dysregulation and struggle to maintain relationships and a sense of safety. Mindfulness and distress tolerance are cornerstones of DBT helping clients to achieve space from their feelings and choice over their responses to stress. I offer guidance in developing tailor made skills to manage distressing feelings and increase personal freedom and security.

I have been actively working in the field of recovery since 2014. I see the goal of addiction counseling as finding a relationship to the substance or process in question that works for you rather than against. For many this is abstinence but this is not a realistic goal when it comes to food or interpersonal relationships. I help clients to explore the underpinnings of their addictive patterns and to find more adaptive ways to meet their needs.

SFBT is a strengths based approach which seeks to find what works in a client’s life and leverage that to address challenges from a position of strength. My approach with this modality is to apply it intuitively in an integrated and relational context. We will identify the fundamental needs beneath the circumstances and set specific step by step goals which can be instrumental in achieving the life you want.