Matthew Simpson, LMHC

In My Own Words

How I work—and who I work best with

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After years of this work — and having ADHD and autistic traits myself — I've found a real sense of belonging in what Steve Silberman, in NeuroTribes, called "a convivial society of loners." The people I tend to connect with often identify as outsiders to the mainstream, the kind who do their deepest work alone but are most at home around others on the same frequency. I approach this work as an equal — a fellow traveler, someone inside the community.

My clinical approach is grounded in IFS — Internal Family Systems, Level 1 trained. What that means in practice: I'm not interested in behavioral change that doesn't address why the behavior is happening. IFS gets at the parts underneath—the shame, the avoidance, the protective strategies that developed for good reasons and outlasted their usefulness. Once those parts have been heard and shifted, external scaffolding—habits, routines, follow-through, boundaries—actually has somewhere to land. That is often the missing link for neurodivergent adults who have already tried dozens of systems that never quite fit.

I've completed IFS Level 1 Training through the IFS Institute, deepening clinical work I've been doing with clients for years. I'm also a certified No More Mr. Nice Guy therapist—one of a small number who trained directly with Dr. Robert Glover, not just familiar with the book. A lot of my clients are men who recognize themselves in No More Mr. Nice Guy or Nice Gal patterns: conflict avoidance, covert contracts, resentment, approval-seeking, and difficulty asking for what they actually want.

Outside of clinical work, I've spent years as a music producer and audio engineer. My love and dedication to the craft of music production shapes how I think about systems: everything is signal and noise, and the job is usually always about reduction — find the essential thing through experimentation and play, then cut away everything else that doesn't serve. That framework informs how I approach complex systems.

I'm happiest traveling, out in nature, or spending time with my partner and our young son. I love being around creative people and being in the creative process, in whatever form that takes. Spanish runs through my daily life as much as English. I've spent close to half my adult life in Latin America or Spain, and our son is growing up bilingual and bicultural. I work with clients in both languages.