Conversations with Clinicians is our therapist interviews series. It provides an opportunity for you to get to know more about one of our associate therapists. Moreover, you can learn about different therapeutic orientations, reasons people become therapists, and what they recommend in terms of media, Bay Area locations, and more. Today, meet California East Bay therapist Mark Resch. He is a trauma-informed therapist who works with individuals and couples using a variety of treatment approaches including attachment, Gestalt, IFS, and narrative therapy. Mark is located in El Cerrito, currently offering online sessions. Here’s what he has to share with us:
What Is Your Therapeutic Orientation?
My approach is non-pathologizing, non-essentialist, and I use diagnosis as a description, not as a prescription.
See Mark’s blog post about Overlapping Symptoms in Mental Health Diagnosis.
My therapeutic orientation focuses on assisting clients in fostering positive transformations in their lives, particularly when faced with relationship challenges, emotional distress, or an underlying sense of unease.
I believe that merely identifying events from the past or articulating an issue is insufficient for resolution. Instead, it is essential to recognize the interconnectedness between the individual, their relationships, society, and culture. My therapeutic approach emphasizes the importance of understanding the impact of societal factors and external influences on one’s well-being while empowering clients to redefine their identity beyond the constraints of others’ perceptions.
In this journey, I support clients in navigating their struggles collaboratively, fostering self-awareness, and promoting healing in a holistic and contextual manner.
What Are Your Areas of Specialty?
My areas of specialty encompass:
- attachment dynamics
- managing anxiety and depression
- addressing relationship concerns
- and providing support for CPTSD
What Other Modalities Inform Your Work?
Modalities include:
- Application of the Power, Threat, Meaning Framework
- The Dynamic Maturation Model of Attachment
- Internal Family Systems
- Narrative Therapy
What Is It Like To Work With You?
In the room, my focus is on my clients and their unique needs and circumstances. I don’t have a method or technique-first approach, Instead I meet client where they are with what they bring and develop a unique therapy experience for them.
Which Clients Do You LOVE Working With?
I love working with people who are searching to find and create more meaning in their lives. This search might be triggered by the sense that there must be something more to life than hard work. Or it might be that despite external success an unrelenting inner critic keeps you questioning your path, relationships and purpose — longing for a transformative shift that will bring balance, clarity, and a deeper connection to yourself and others.
What Might Surprise Your Clients To Learn About You?
I think clients might be surprised to learn that I also have a Masters in Fine Arts.
What Most Inspires You About This Work?
I am inspired by how resourceful and resilient humans are, and how much change is possible through the work.
How Do You Stay Inspired Outside of the Work?
My outside inspirations are time in nature especially out on the water, and participating in a strong, vibrant community.
If you could sum up in one sentence why someone might go to therapy, what would you say?
Therapy is a great way to address the issues and circumstances that keep your life from being what you want it to be.
What is one takeaway moment that you’d like to share from your own experience as a client in therapy?
Being witnessed and supported as a client has helped me to more fully live my own life. One of the most transformative experiences I’ve had in therapy was discovering that I had really insulated and isolated my inner child, in order to protect him. But what that really did for me, was to prevent me from engaging fully with the world. When I learned that I could not just isolate that part, but instead take him out of his cocoon, and carry in with me I found that he caused much less trouble for me when I wasn’t paying attention.
Give Us Your Recommendations …
We want to know what you recommend as …
The Best Places to Laugh and Cry in the SF Bay Area?
I think spending time on a beach looking out at the ocean or in a redwood forest both provide great opportunities to both laugh and cry.
See recommendations from our other associate therapists about where to laugh and cry.
The Best Free Self-Care?
The best free self-care is found in any of the amazing parks and hiking trails around. Fresh air, movement and the amazing beauty of this place are so good for the soul.
See more affordable self care recommendations from our associate therapists here.
The Best Self-Care If You Have Extra Funds?
At a higher price point, taking time for a massage, hot tub, and sauna can be really embodying and restorative.
Favorite Therapy Books?
One of my favorite therapy books is “No Bad Parts” by Richard Schwartz because he clearly lays-out an approach that can help us see parts of ourselves in a way that allows us to get insights that are very different from the stories that we often tell about ourselves.
See some of our other therapists’ book recommendations here.
Favorite Non-therapy books?
I really liked reading “Circe” by Madeline Miller. This book is a fictionalization of the lives of some of the characters from Greek mythology that really brought them to life for me.
Any Other Media Favorites?
Orna Guralnik is amazing in the television series “Couples Therapy“. While it’s edited for TV and to pique audience attention, this show really demonstrates how therapy can work.
How Can Potential Clients Contact You?
Mark Resch at the Center for Mindful Psychotherapy
Associate Marriage and Family Therapist AMFT 136959
Supervised by Lynndal Daniels, LMFT #78183; Supervised by Scott Balderson, LMFT #34280
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.markresch.com
Phone: 510-859-4644
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@remarqer
You can also contact us at Center for Mindful Psychotherapy to learn more about working with Mark Resch or any of our associate therapists.