Hi, I’m Jeremiah.
Nice to meet you!
My Journey
My name is Jeremiah Matters (He/Him) and I am a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist. While I grew up in Washington State, I moved to California to continue my education and received my Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts with an emphasis in Biblical Studies, Psychology, and Intercultural Studies from Hope International University in 2015. Afterwards, I took some time off from school in order to learn more about myself and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. Having dealt with my own mental health journey, I knew I wanted to help other people explore their own journeys, so the following year I continued my education further in graduate school and received my Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology: Marriage and Family Therapy from Azusa Pacific University in 2020. Since then, I have worked at a couple private practice offices and continue to see clients in Irvine, CA today.
Education
I could not be more thankful for the years of learning how to be a therapist from my education at Azusa Pacific University. My time there had a huge impact on my career, and one of the greatest things I learned was that while the interventions in therapy are valuable, the therapeutic relationship with the client is the most important aspect of therapy that contributes to the overall efficacy of treatment. A good therapeutic relationship is one that centers around empathy and unconditional positive regard for the client. But what does that mean exactly? I define empathy as a deep, mutual, emotional understanding that lets the client know that whatever they share is understood on a personal level. Whether or not the experiences are the same, the stories we tell in therapy relay core emotions that we are unsure can be understood by others, yet a therapist who practices with empathy can tune in to those emotions and feel them with the client as they share their pain. That is where I come in and offer unconditional positive regard, which lets you know that no matter what you have done or felt, I am here for you, with not judgment nor shame, but rather grace, acceptance, and love.
Certifications
As stated on my homepage, although I am a Registered Associate Marriage and Family Therapist recognized by the Board of Behavioral Sciences in the State of California, I am still in training and not yet a Certified Sex Therapist. That being said, I have completed a course in graduate school called “Human Sexuality and Sex Therapy”, which is one of AASECT’s requirements for Sex Therapist Certification. I plan on continuing to pursue such certification once I am officially a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, which I plan on obtaining by Spring of 2024 upon completing my clinical hours and passing the licensing exam.
Clinical Experience
During my last year of graduate school I had the honor to do my internship at the Hope Counseling Center, a community counseling center in Anaheim, CA where I got to work with clients of diverse ages and ethnic groups. During that year I learned a great deal of what it means to be a therapist in Orange County and I had the privilege to practice under an amazing supervisor who taught me much of what I know today. After leaving my internship, I continued my clinical experience at a private practice in Newport Beach where my previous supervisor taught me the importance of developing a niche, which is when I decided to pursue working with the LGBTQ+ Community, as well as doing Sex Therapy with couples and individuals. If you are a part of the LGBTQ+ Community and want to learn more about how I work with that population, check out my other website by clicking here. However, whether or not you identify as LGBTQ+, continue reading below to learn more about how I conduct Sex Therapy.
Sex Therapy
Many sex therapists only focus on the sexual aspect of a couple’s relationship—meaning that the focus is on the content of the sexual problem. Although focusing on the content is a vital aspect of treating sexual problems, it cannot be the only focus because there are deep, powerful emotions underlying the sexual problem that are often not being expressed in the relationship. With Integrative Sex and Couples Therapy, I help couples not only to understand those underlying emotions, but also how to properly express those emotions to each other in a way that will help each partner better understand what is going on beneath the sexual problem and the overt, secondary emotions that are being improperly displaced. However, couples aren’t the only ones who come to sex therapy. Although sex therapy typically includes working with a couple, there are times when Individual Sex Therapy might be more appropriate. Whether the reason is because an individual does not have a partner, they are not yet comfortable disclosing their sexual problem to their partner, or any other reason, it is never too late to start getting help in order to improve the quality of your sex life. If you want to learn more about how Sex Therapy can help you and your partner in Integrative Sex and Couples Therapy, click here. If you want to learn more about how Sex Therapy can help you in Individual Therapy, click here.