Matt Porte holds a Masters’s Degree in Social Work from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and received his Bachelor of Psychology Degree from Missouri Southern State University. Matt has been a practicing psychotherapist since 2013. Matt’s specialty is helping people address shame and self-criticism along with PTSD, anxiety, and depression. Matt. has been training in Compassion Focused Therapy and is very passionate about the necessity to be compassionate to ourselves and others. Compassion in, this case, is a sensitivity to suffering in oneself or another with a commitment to alleviate and prevent that suffering. Matt has been working with the Compassionate Mind Foundation in the UK and is currently being mentored in this particular therapy which has a focus on helping individuals address shame and self-criticism.

To that end, many of us are so quick to blame, condemn, and tear ourselves down for our many flaws and mistakes, or we are anxiety prone and worry severely about what others will think of us, and whenever something goes wrong in our lives, we become so quick to blame ourselves first. Yet, when this self-critic in our mind goes off it rarely leaves us feeling emotionally safe, motivated, or willing to deal with life’s troubles as they are. We mistakenly believe that if we shame and beat ourselves up with criticism this is supposed to make us do or be better, but most times we just feel even more hopeless, defeated, anxious, angry, and out of sorts. For these reasons, compassion is an excellent antidote for beginning to learn how to tune into and effectively manage this suffering.

It is Matt’s ultimate goal of helping you not just manage life’s troubles but move beyond them to embody your most authentic, wise, strong, courageous, committed, and caring version of yourself – especially in times of great stress and suffering.