About Matthew
Matthew Dougherty is a licensed mental health counselor practicing in New York. He brings six years of experience helping people who are facing anxiety, depression, stress, grief, and tough life changes. Matthew focuses on understanding each person’s story and meeting them where they are.
Matthew uses everyday language in sessions. He helps people sort through relationships, work stress, parenting strain, and self-esteem struggles. He also addresses concerns like addiction, sleep and eating difficulties, and challenges tied to identity and intimacy.
Background and approach
His approach centers on the client and their goals. Matthew draws on tools from cognitive behavioral therapy to spot unhelpful thinking and from dialectical behavior therapy to teach emotional regulation skills. He also uses motivational interviewing to strengthen readiness for change and narrative therapy to help people reframe painful stories about themselves.
Sessions are practical and goal-oriented. Matthew aims to build coping skills people can use between appointments. He supports steps like improving communication, managing anger, reducing avoidance, and pacing recovery from loss or trauma.
People who choose Matthew often want clear steps and an empathic listener. He works with adults facing a wide range of concerns, including career pressures, relationship issues, ADHD, and bipolar-related struggles. His New York practice blends straightforward guidance with attention to each person’s values and strengths.
Therapeutic approaches and flexible online care
Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and helping people set their own goals; it’s useful when someone needs a steady, nonjudgmental space to make sense of feelings. Cognitive behavioral therapy, or CBT, looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and behavior and offers practical techniques to manage anxiety, depression, and unhelpful thinking patterns. Dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT, teaches concrete skills for regulating emotions and managing intense reactions, which can help with anger, relationship strain, and mood swings.Choosing the right approach is collaborative. Matthew will talk with each person about their goals, what has or hasn’t worked before, and what feels doable. Together they can try methods, adjust plans, and pick tools that fit the person’s life and preferences.
Online therapy makes those methods easier to use for many people. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation for teaching skills and practicing communication. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or when a shorter check-in fits a break at work. Live chat and text-based messaging are options for quick troubleshooting, brief coaching between sessions, or people who prefer writing to talking. These formats provide flexibility so therapy can fit into busy days and different routines.
Frequently asked questions
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Specialties and expertise
Top specialties
- Stress, Anxiety
- Family conflicts
- Self esteem
Also works with
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Body image
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Divorce and separation
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family of origin issues
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Relationship issues
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sexuality
- Sleeping disorders
- Smoking / vaping cessation
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Trauma and abuse
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 6 years
- Licensed
- New York
- Languages
- English