Matthew Paden

Matthew Paden, LCSW (he/him) is an acute care social worker with over a decade of experience supporting individuals through complex medical, emotional, and life transitions. His background spans dialysis care, transgender housing programs, school-based services, and community mental health. He earned both his Bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Master of Social Work from Northeastern Illinois University in Chicago, where he focused on practice with vulnerable populations and graduated with honors.

Matthew is also an end-of-life doula and a Certified HeartMath® trainer, integrating mindfulness, emotional regulation, and compassionate presence into his work. He takes a client-centered, trauma-informed approach, helping individuals navigate serious illness, grief, identity, and life transitions with dignity and support.

Matthew brings a deeply human, grounded approach to his work—shaped by both clinical training and his early experience in hospitality and retail. He is particularly passionate about helping clients navigate trauma, identity, and self-worth, including the often overlooked impact of generational wealth disparities on relationships and mental health.

In your first session with Matthew, you can expect a supportive, non-judgmental space where your experiences and goals are the priority. The session is focused on getting to know you—what brings you in, what you’ve been going through, and what kind of support you’re looking for.

Matthew will gently guide the conversation with questions about your emotional well-being, current stressors, medical or mental health history (if relevant), and any important life experiences that shape your current situation. There’s no pressure to share everything at once—you can move at your own pace.

Together, you’ll begin identifying goals for therapy, whether that’s coping with stress, navigating a medical diagnosis, processing grief, improving relationships, or building a stronger sense of self-worth. Matthew may also introduce simple tools or techniques—such as grounding exercises or HeartMath-based strategies—to help you feel more regulated and supported.

By the end of the session, you can expect to have a clearer sense of what working together might look like, and whether it feels like a good fit.