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About Me
Hi there, my name is Matthew, aka the Exercise Psychotherapist. I have been practicing as an Accredited Exercise Physiologist (AEP) for several years and after completing my post-graduate studies, I am also a registered counsellor and Psychotherapist.
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Through my clinical experiences and my studies, I have come to learn that our physical and mental health are highly interconnected, yet traditionally we have separated them when providing healthcare. With my practice being informed by Exercise Physiology and Psychotherapy practices, I aim to reconnect how physical and mental healthcare is approached and continue to support other clinicians in doing the same.
Before I am a health practitioner, I am a husband, a father, a dog-dad, dad-joke extraordinaire, a curious adventurer and love spending time on country to connect with the beautiful environments that our country has to offer.
Life is full of opportunity; however, it can also bring significant challenges which can impact us and those around us. Whether these challenges are caused by poor physical and mental health, they impact us on physiological, psychological and relational levels. It is important that we reach out for support to help us navigate these challenges and reconnect with the meaningful activities and relationships that we can become disconnected from.
My Learning Journey
A journey that never ends...
I completed my Bachelor of Exercise and sports Science with majors in Clinical Exercise Physiology (Honours) in 2018 and as an AEP I have worked across private practice, public community mental health and acute inpatient mental health services. I have had a passion about supporting people who are experiencing mental health challenges and throughout my first two years of practice I recognized the importance of how our physical health and our movement is strongly interconnected with our mental health.
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This reflection made me curious about this connection and was a major motivation towards completing my Masters of Mental Health with Majors in Psychotherapy. The more I learnt, the more the connections between our physical and mental health became apparent. For example, how we navigate physical pain is very similar to how we navigate emotional pain, which often is via changing what we do to avoid pain. Whilst this a natural and often automatic response, if we continue to avoid facing and dealing the pain and the contributing factors, it will continue to disconnect us from the meaningful relationships and activities in our lives which will continue to negatively effect our wellbeing.
Whilst completing my master's was a professional journey which provided me with the additional knowledge and ability to work as a Psychotherapist, it was also a significant personal journey full of adversity, self-reflection and re-engaging with my values as a person, husband, friend, and clinician. My thesis was investigating the perceived stress and prevalence of mental illness amongst AEPs across Australia which has ignited a strong passion to help my fellow AEPs manage their clinical practice and mental health with a special focus on less experienced clinicians who experience the greatest levels of stress.
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