Mark works with all adults, and has extensive training and experience working with couples. This includes pre-marital counseling, communication difficulties, recovery from infidelity and sex addiction, and transitioning through divorce. Mark is also trained to help clients recover from traumatic experiences and difficult childhoods.
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Before becoming a Marriage & Family Therapist, Mark spent over 30 years producing fundraising TV programs for national and international non-profit organizations.  Clients included World Vision, St Jude Children's Research Hospital, Operation Smile, Food for the Poor, and Mercy Ships.

Education
Azusa Pacific University, 2010 - MA Clinical Psychology
Loyola Marymount University, 1979 - BA Communication Arts (Film & Television)

Additional Training

• Couple Therapy
  • Psychobiological Approach to Couple Therapy (PACT) - developed by Stan Tatkin that integrates the latest research in attachment theory, arousal regulation, and developmental neurobiology.
    • Level 2 - Trained with Stan Tatkin for 4 years
    • Participated in role playing for Level 1 Training videos
  • PREPARE/ENRICH inventories for pre-marital counseling.
  • Anatomy of Intimacy Couples Therapy Training at University of California Irvine
    • Infidelity: Beyond Trauma to Transformation (Nov 10 and 11, 2012) 
      • Janis Spring, Ellyn Bader, John & Julie Gottman, Alex Katehakis, Marty Klein, Tammy Nelson, Esther Perel 
    • Brent Atkinson (Nov 8 and 9, 2014)
    • Sue Johnson (January 17, 2015)
    • Terry Real (March 7 and 8, 2015)
    • William Doherty (October 17, 2015)
    • Ellyn Bader & Peter Pearson (November 14, 2015)
    • Janis Spring (April 7, 2018) Infidelity
    • Tammy Nelson (October 30, 2021)
• Sex Addiction Therapy
  • Certification in Sex Addiction Therapy (CSAT®) through Patrick Carnes (2011). The CSAT® program is fast-becoming the industry's standard certification for all therapists working with individuals who suffer from addictive and compulsive sexual behaviors.
  • Society for the Advancement of Sexual Health Conference
    Lo Jolla, CA (Sep 21-24, 2011)
  • International Institute of Trauma and Addiction Professionals Conference
    2011, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2020, 2023
    • 2021 Presented on the use of couples therapy from the beginning of treatment
• Sex Therapy
  • Buehler Institute AASECT Sex Therapy Training 2016 to 2018.
  • Tammy Nelson (March 5, 2016) Sex Therapy
  • Ian Kerner (April 8, 2017) Sex Therapy
  • Joe Kort (June 8, 2017) LGBTQ Therapy
  • Barry McCarthy (April 27, 2018) 
  • Doug Braun Harvey (May 30 and 31, 2018) Out of Control Sexual Behavior
• Trauma
  • EMDR - a powerful technique for people who suffer from trauma, anxiety, panic, disturbing memories, post traumatic stress and many other emotional problems.  
    • Basic Training 2011
    • Laurel Parnell EMDR Conference – 2017
    • Laurel Parnell Level 3 Training – 2014
    • AJ Popky - DeTur for Addiction- 2013
    • Susan Brown - Positive Feeling State Protocol for Addiction– 2013
    • Laurel Parnell EMDR and Attachment – 2013
  • Trauma Resiliency Model (2013) is a mind-body approach and focuses on the biological basis of trauma and the automatic, defensive ways that the body responds when faced with perceived threats to self and others, including fight, flight and freeze.
  • Brainspotting (2018) Developed by EMDR therapist Dr. David Grand within the last 15 years, brainspotting is based upon the idea that what’s going on inside our brain is directly related to where we focus our eyes.
  • • Phase 1 (May 18-20, 2018)
    • Master Class with David Grand (July 20-22, 2018)
    • Phase 2 (September 7-9, 2018)
    • Brainspotting and Addiction (September 28 and 29, 2018)
    • Phase 4 (July 19 -21, 2019)
    • Phase 3 (Nov 15-17, 2019) 
  • Internal Family Systems
    • Introduction to Internal Family Systems (IITAP) Oct 4 and 5, 2019
    • Level 1 Training (2020)
    • Level 2 Training (2021) Intimacy from the Inside Out (IFS with Couples)