I am a gay man, married; my husband and I have a son. I am integrative in my approach in therapy--I will draw from lots of tools to see what helps. Some of these could include: art therapy, talk therapy, inner child work, family of origin and grief work, and recovery from codependency. I have 33 years of sobriety and have spent years working a recovery program around codependency.
What can clients expect to take away from sessions with you?
The first session involves some business issues such as reviewing the limits of confidentiality, discussion of the risks and benefits of therapy, etc. Once the business part is done, I get the opportunity to find out what brings you to therapy and we can start to talk about what your goals are for treatment.
Explain to clients what areas you feel are your biggest strengths.
Compassion, life experience, good listening skills, connecting the dots in a client's story, empathy, and unconditional positive regard. I try very hard to meet the client where they are.
About Matthew Wettlaufer
Appointments
Virtual
My treatment methods
Experiential Therapy
In my case, experiential therapy would mean art therapy; I have 20 years working in the visual arts as a painter, and I have applied art therapy interventions in my practice as a therapist working with both individuals and groups. Art therapy with a client would consist of homework, along the lines of journaling and art making with specific goals and objectives in mine, which we would then process in session afterwards. Art has a therapeutic value different from other psychological approaches as it is very tangible and relies on the imaginative and intuitive side of our brains where we often derive solutions to the problems we're bringing to therapy.
Psychodynamic
A lot of my work with clients explores childhood issues--abuse, neglect, attachment issues, loss--because these original events often impact us by setting up patterns of behavior that we end up resorting to in adulthood without consciously realizing it. Psychodynamic work involves recognizing these patterns and where they come from, going back to original childhood wounds and losses, grieving those losses and reparenting ourselves as a step towards healing, and establishing new patterns and responses to life issues that are more effective and functional than our previous ones. I've found inner child, family of origin, and self-esteem work are highly effective in combatting issues around codependency, enmeshment, toxic relationships, and other childhood-derived problems.
Existential
I have found existential psychology helpful for clients who are struggling with life meaning and questions around purpose. My educational background includes a doctorate in philosophy, so I bring to the table a lot of information around existentialism that could be supportive of clients attempting to create and build personal meaning and purpose in their lives. Clients experiencing mid-life crises, threatening illnesses, or deep losses often derive tremendous satisfaction from existentialist approaches which emphasize individual freedom surrounding choice, personal responsibility for life decisions, and present-moment focusing and gratitude.
Cognitive Behavioral (CBT)
I tend to be more integrative in my approach to working with clients, picking lots of tools from different modalities depending on the needs of the client. CBT works well with clients who are experiencing depression and anxiety whose causes are in the present rather than rooted in the past. Sometimes flipping the script, reflecting back and challenging cognitive distortions around daily life events (all or nothing thinking, catastrophizing), examining core beliefs around self-worth, or strategizing changes in behavior that can affect changes in mood are all that are needed for shifting an issue around depression or anxiety.
