About The Life Of Your Choosing
A different way of understanding yourself
I'm Matthew Thompson, a Registered Mental Health Nurse, Independent Prescriber and Therapist.
My work has developed around a simple observation:
People are often more complex than the labels used to describe them.
A diagnosis can be useful. A symptom can be important. A particular treatment approach can be valuable.
But none of these necessarily tells the whole story.
I work with people whose experiences may involve trauma, dissociation, ADHD, Neurodivergence, persistent physical symptoms, functional neurological symptoms, emotional difficulties or patterns of behaviour that they have struggled to understand.
My role is not to put you into another box.
It is to help you understand what may be happening, make sense of the patterns that have developed, and explore what can change.
Ultimately, the aim is greater choice in how you live your life.
My professional background
My professional background is in mental health, with specialist practice across complex physical and psychological presentations within a wide range of settings
Over time, my work has increasingly focused on the areas where straightforward explanations don't always capture what someone is experiencing.
This includes complex trauma, dissociation, medically unexplained and persistent physical symptoms, functional neurological symptoms, Neurodivergence and the interaction between psychological, physical and neurological experiences.
I have also trained in a range of therapeutic approaches, including EMDR and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).
These approaches are important tools, but I don't believe that one therapy model should determine how somebody is understood.
The person comes first. The model comes second.
My approach is therefore formulation-led and individualised. I consider your history, current circumstances, patterns of behaviour, emotional responses, relationships, physical experiences and the ways in which you have learned to cope.
From there, we can decide what kind of work is likely to be most useful.
Therapy, coaching and choosing the right approach
Not everyone who comes to me needs the same thing.
Some people need psychological therapy.
Some want to work specifically with trauma through EMDR.
Some find ACT helpful for developing greater psychological flexibility.
Some are looking for neuroscience-informed coaching to understand patterns, make changes and work towards future goals.
And sometimes the first step is simply making sense of what is happening.
I don't believe in choosing a treatment model first and then trying to make the person fit it.
The approach should follow the person.
That's why I offer different ways of working, with clear boundaries around what each is designed to provide.
A career shaped by complexity
My professional experience has included extensive work in Liaison Psychiatry and mental health crises, alongside my specialist work with trauma, dissociation, medically unexplained symptoms and complex presentations.
This has given me experience of working with people across a very wide range of psychological and physical health difficulties, often when the situation is unclear, overwhelming or rapidly changing.
It has also shaped one of the central principles of my practice: Don't mistake the presenting problem for the whole person.
Why The Life Of Your Choosing?
The name reflects something central to my approach.
We don't always get to choose what has happened to us.
We don't always get to choose how our brains work, what our bodies do, or what experiences have shaped us.
But understanding can create possibilities.
And possibilities can create choice.
The aim isn't to become a completely different person.
It is to develop greater freedom in how you respond, make decisions that are more consistent with what matters to you, and build a life that feels more like your own.
You don't have to fit yourself into a box to understand yourself.
You can start with where you are.
Understand what has shaped you.
Explore what can change.
And choose what comes next.
An important distinction about prescribing
I am an Independent Prescriber as part of my wider professional role.
However, I do not prescribe medication through The Life Of Your Choosing or as part of my therapy or coaching work.
My prescribing qualification forms part of my broader professional background and clinical understanding. It does not mean that medication prescribing is part of the services offered through this practice.
If medication is relevant to your care, this would need to be discussed with the appropriate prescribing clinician or healthcare professional involved in your treatment.
This distinction is very important because I want you to be clear about exactly what I offer and the boundaries of the work.
A little more about working with me
My approach is professional, collaborative and curious.
I won't assume that I know your experience better than you do.
At the same time, my role isn't simply to listen.
I will bring clinical knowledge, psychological formulation, challenge and different ways of understanding what may be happening.
Sometimes that means asking questions that haven't been asked before.
Sometimes it means making connections between experiences that have previously seemed unrelated.
And sometimes it means recognising that a particular approach isn't the right one.
The goal isn't to make you fit the treatment.
The goal is to find a way of working that makes sense for you.
The Life Of Your Choosing
Understand yourself.
Make sense of complexity.
Create space for change.
Choose what comes next.