Matthew Frener

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Services

Integrative Psychotherapeutic Counselling

About me and my practice

I am a UKCP Registered Psychotherapist, Senior Accredited Member of BACP, Senior Accredited Registrant of NCPS, and Advanced Practitioner Member of Addiction Professionals. I have been working clinically with addiction since the beginning of my career, and it remains one of my core specialisms, both professionally and as an area I feel a deep personal commitment to.

I began my clinical career as a counsellor at Start2Stop, one of London's leading residential rehabilitation centres, where I worked with individuals recovering from addiction and eating disorders across a range of presentations and severities. My role encompassed individual therapy, group facilitation, family involvement in the recovery process, and DBT skills delivery, giving me a thorough early grounding in the complexity of addictive behaviour and the relational and trauma-adjacent dynamics that so often underlie it.

Following this, I worked as a DBT Practitioner at the Priory Hospital North London, before establishing my current private practice in Fitzrovia, Central London. I now work exclusively in private practice, seeing individuals navigating addiction alongside the full range of co-occurring difficulties that frequently accompany it, including trauma, ADHD, eating disorders, anxiety, depression, and identity issues.

I understand addiction not as a moral failing or a problem of willpower, but as a complex, adaptive response, one that developed for a reason and has served a function, even as it has caused harm. This understanding shapes everything about how I work.

Outline of offer

I work relationally and integratively, which means I tailor my approach to the individual rather than applying a fixed model. For people working with addiction, this matters enormously, because behind the substance or behaviour, there is almost always a story: of unmet need, of trauma, of a nervous system that learned to seek relief wherever it could find it.

One of the first things I want to understand with any client is what the addiction has been doing for them. Not in a way that minimises the harm it has caused, but because lasting change rarely comes from willpower alone, it comes from understanding what need the behaviour has been meeting, and finding other ways to meet it. Substances and compulsive behaviours are often extraordinarily effective, in the short term, at regulating emotional pain, managing anxiety, soothing a dysregulated nervous system, or filling an unbearable sense of emptiness. Therapy that doesn't take that seriously tends not to work.

My work therefore attends to nervous system regulation as a clinical priority, helping clients develop the capacity to tolerate difficult internal states without reaching for something to change them. I draw on DBT skills for emotional regulation, distress tolerance, and interpersonal effectiveness; somatic approaches for working with the body's role in craving and dysregulation; and psychodynamic and attachment-informed work to explore the relational and developmental roots of addictive patterns. Relapse prevention is woven throughout, not as a separate module but as an ongoing, collaborative thread that helps clients understand their triggers, recognise early warning signs, and build a life that supports recovery rather than undermining it.

I work with people at all stages of their relationship with addiction, those in early recovery, those who are ambivalent about change, those who have been in recovery for years but are still working through what brought them to addiction in the first place, and those whose relationship with a substance or behaviour has begun to concern them but who are not yet sure they want to stop. All of these are valid starting points.

Sessions are 50 minutes and take place weekly at the same time. I do not offer sessions less frequently than weekly, consistency and containment are particularly important in addiction work, where regularity can itself become a stabilising force. Where appropriate and availability allows, twice-weekly sessions can be arranged during periods of greater difficulty or early recovery.

I offer a free introductory call of 15-30 minutes, by phone or video, where we can explore what is bringing you to therapy and whether working together feels like the right fit. The first sessions take the form of an assessment, an opportunity to understand your history, your relationship with addiction, and what you are hoping for from the work, and to begin shaping a way forward together.

I see clients in person in Fitzrovia, Central London, and online across the UK. I offer a sliding scale fee of £100-£120 and hold a small number of spaces at a concessionary rate. I also work with a number of major health insurers.

Experience

Before training as a therapist, I spent several years working in the theatre and arts sector, an background that informs the creativity and humanity I try to bring to clinical work, and that led me, through my own experience of seeking support, toward a career in psychotherapy.

My clinical career began at Start2Stop, where I worked as a counsellor within a residential rehabilitation setting. Working intensively with individuals in early and sustained recovery gave me an early and thorough understanding of the complexity of addiction, the co-occurring presentations, the relational ruptures, the shame, and the extraordinary courage it takes to begin to change. I facilitated therapeutic groups, delivered DBT skills training, and worked with families navigating the impact of a loved one's addiction.

I subsequently worked as a DBT Practitioner at the Priory Hospital North London, further developing my clinical skills within a structured multidisciplinary environment. I now work exclusively in private practice, where I hold an MSc in Integrative Psychotherapy and a Level 6 Clinical Diploma, both from Metanoia Institute, alongside specialist qualifications in DBT, somatic trauma therapy, and eating disorder treatment.

Across these settings I have worked with people navigating alcohol and substance dependency, behavioural addictions including sex, porn, and gambling, dual diagnosis presentations, eating disorders, trauma and PTSD, ADHD, anxiety, depression, personality disorders, self-harm, and relational and attachment difficulties.

As an Advanced Practitioner Member of Addiction Professionals, I am committed to maintaining the highest standards of ethical practice and ongoing professional development in this field.