LPC, 10 years of experience
New to Grow
Hello, my name is Dr. Mark Pope. I have a Ph.D. in Psychology, and I've been a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice for about 10 years. I've seen a wide variety of clients treating anxiety, depression, and trauma to great success. I also worked 15 years as an executive for a leading public health organization where I initiated, developed, and led an award-winning mental health and wellness program developing and employing cutting edge stress management techniques for 15,000 employees working in a high stress environment. I've taken lessons learned from this experience to enrich my private practice and provide my clients with the best care possible.
The first session is all about learning about you and how you would like your life to be different. Once I have a general understanding of what's going on I will talk briefly about my approach and how we might work together going forward so you can decide if that works for you. My goal is to establish a safe environment and trusting relationship since that's critical for understanding and change.
I enjoy working with people to understand their journey and goals and feel the opportunity to build a relationship with another person based in trust and dedicated to finding solutions to make their lives better is a privilege. And while I've conducted extensive research on therapeutic methods to identify what works for different issues, I approach each client as a unique individual and modify my approach to fit their needs. There is no one best solution and I've had great success by developing individual plans for each client based on their specific needs and desires.
People are my passion and helping is my goal. I believe the relationship between therapist and client is a partnership where we work together to understand the path that led to where you are today and the paths that will lead you to a healthy and happier future. We'll work to identify coping skills to reduce anxiety and improve mood and we'll practice these so they become second nature rewriting the thought processes that may be preventing you from becoming the person you want to be.
The way we think influences how we feel and behave, and the better we understand our thoughts and thought processes the more likely we are to find a better path! I work with clients to identify how their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are related and what needs to change to improve their lives. Then together we identify and learn coping skills and strategies that simplify and improve their lives.
Trauma therapy helps people process their emotions and reduce the distress associated with traumatic memories and I have extensive experience and training on helping people deal with these issues. As a veteran I'm well aware of the impact of trauma and my work with CDC employees returning from international missions further shaped my understanding of and empathy for those searching for answers in the wake of events beyond their control. I work with clients to provide a safe and compassionate environment for healing.