Matthew Hallam

Adults (18+) who know something isn't working.

You've probably tried to "fix it" already. You've read about it, talked it through, maybe even seen a clinician or two. And no matter what you've done, it isn't getting better, or not in the way you were hoping.

• Anxiety that won't switch off. Looping thoughts, a body that won't settle, even after you've talked it through.
• Late-identified neurodivergence. Figuring out a brain you only recently realised wasn't the default.
• The after-effects of something you've survived. Trauma you may or may not have words for.
• High-functioning, quietly falling apart. The version of you everyone else thinks is fine.
• Patterns in relationships. The ones you can see but can't seem to step outside of.

• Anyone under 18
• Court-ordered or court-related work (third-party reports for treatment purposes are different. Those are fine once we're engaged in therapy, charged hourly.)
• Eating disorders
• Personality disorder presentations
• Acute risk or crisis-level presentations
• Severe psychosis or acute mood states requiring inpatient care
• Couples or family therapy

If you're not sure whether you're a fit, the free 15-minute Meet and Greet is built for exactly that.

The frame is non-deficit. I'm not looking for what's wrong with you and trying to repair it. I'm looking at how your system is working, what it's protecting, what it's missing, and what wants to move.

A lot of the people I see are late-identified neurodivergent adults. That has happened organically rather than by design. The lens I bring lands with people whose brains have spent a long time being told they're wrong, and the same lens shapes the rest of the work I do.

• Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT). A values-led approach. Less about getting rid of difficult thoughts and feelings, more about building a life that matters to you while they're around.
• Internal Family Systems (IFS). Parts work. The premise is that the parts of you that seem to be in conflict are all doing a job. The work is getting to know them rather than overriding them.
• Somatic and emotion-focused approaches. A lot of what we're working with lives in the body, not in language. We slow down and pay attention to what's actually happening before we try to think our way through it.
• Brainspotting (Level 1 training). An attention and eye-position approach often used with distress that has a strong body component. It works with material the thinking mind hasn't been able to resolve on its own.
• Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT). Useful in places, particularly for understanding the loops between thoughts, feelings, and what you do. I use it where it fits, not as a default.
• Strengths-based work. Not a separate modality so much as a stance. What you already do well is part of the toolkit, not an afterthought.

What I draw on in any given session depends on what's in front of us, not on a protocol. The thread running through all of it is the same. You're not broken, and the work isn't to fix you. It's to understand the system you're already running and shape it in ways you actually want.

Recent posts from the Equal Psychology blog.

• The Stoicism young men reach for, and the one that actually helpsBlog · Understanding your mind · 8 Oct 2026
• When your ADHD medication seems to stop working, look at stress firstBlog · ADHD · 14 Sep 2026
• Chronic illness and acceptance: what to do when the body will not go backBlog · Chronic health · 17 Aug 2026

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