About
A grounded presence in challenging times
I’m Matthew Painton — a coach, facilitator, collaborator and companion for people and communities finding their way through uncertainty, increasing stresses, and profound change.
For more than a decade I’ve worked with individuals, groups, and organisations facing difficult truths, complex decisions, and emotionally charged conditions. Again and again, I’ve seen that people don’t struggle because they lack intelligence, goodwill, or information. They struggle because it’s hard to stay connected to ourselves — and to what’s actually happening — when life is demanding, the world is changing quickly, and the emotional impact of events isn’t being met with enough care.
This work begins with the presence, honesty, and the depth that becomes possible when we slow down and truly meet our experience.
What shaped my approach
I didn’t arrive at this work through theory — the theory emerged from the practice.
It’s grown directly from years of helping people navigate uncertainty, loss, existential questions, relational tensions, and big-picture concerns about the future. My background in philosophy and religion shaped my interest in how humans make meaning, while an MSc in agroforestry rooted my understanding in ecological systems and the wider context we’re all adapting within. The practice has been refined through close collaboration with fellow coaches, facilitators, educators, and activists.
This work hasn’t only been shaped by what I’ve witnessed in others. Like many people, I have to meet my own responses to this moment in history — the fear, the despair, the overwhelm, the grief of understanding what the science is telling us, the weight of the news cycle, and the suffering within both human and more-than-human communities. I don’t want us to continue down the path we’re on without transformative changes, and I recognise that much of the world is already bearing the brunt. I’m still learning how to stay with these feelings, how to metabolise them, how to keep my footing, and how to act from clarity and care. This practice of meeting reality — without collapsing and without numbing — sits at the core of the frameworks I now use to support others.
Over time I noticed consistent patterns in how we respond internally to bigger-than-self distress — emotionally, cognitively, and relationally. These insights evolved into a set of frameworks that now support my coaching and group facilitation. They help reveal:
• what’s most alive or distressing.
• where overwhelm or shutdown is taking hold.
• where possibility is emerging.
• how to restore coherence and move toward grounded, enlivening action.
My approach is relational, trauma-aware, emotionally intelligent, and oriented toward what is life-affirming and coherent — both personally and collectively.
How I work
People often come to me not because they need more information, but because they need help making sense of what they already know. They need space to metabolise the fear, grief, anger, numbness, confusion, or pressure they’ve been carrying — so that wisdom, clarity, and courage can re-emerge.
My role is to offer:
• a steady, compassionate presence.
• a space where nothing needs to be performed or defended.
• skilled attention to what’s happening beneath the surface.
• support for staying connected under increasing stresses.
• support for wise, context-appropriate action.
People describe me as grounded, calm, precise, emotionally attuned, and able to hold both complexity and humanity at the same time.
Why this work matters to me
We are living through a time when many people feel the weight of the world, yet have nowhere to bring what they’re truly feeling or questioning. My commitment is to meet people where they are — without judgment, without false comfort, and without collapsing into despair — and to help them find coherence, connection, and meaningful action in the midst of change.
This work continues to humble and enrich me. It is a privilege to witness what becomes possible when people feel genuinely accompanied.