Mark Myran (he/any)

Before choosing to become a therapist, I volunteered at a local DV agency, but always wanted to do more. I completed the 40-hour DV advocate training, provided childcare at the DV shelter, and volunteered on a DV hotline. As a therapist, I have worked in a DV agency, facilitating groups and counseling individuals and families affected by intimate partner violence. I also facilitate community outreach efforts of a DV agency as a volunteer.

My early work as a therapist was with victim/survivors of intimate partner violence, so I quickly became acquainted with PTSD in many forms. I am trained in Somatic Experiencing and EMDR, so I have multiple options in my toolbox for working with clients who struggle with PTSD.

Sexual violence impacts a large portion of our population. I have found that when you make it safe to talk about, many people have stories to tell. My research in graduate school focused on working with sexual abuse victim/survivors. I have worked with a large number of victim/survivors in support groups, as well as providing individual therapy to people struggling with a history of sexual violence.

A humanistic orientation was embedded in all of the course work to earn my master's degree. This has always been my foundation, with any other therapy approach built on top.

A feminist approach to therapy enables an egalitarian relationship between therapist and client, where the client is the expert in the room and we collaborate on treatment. My research in graduate school was on a feminist approach to working with survivors of childhood sexual abuse. As a therapist, I sought out a feminist supervisor and strive to learn as much from her as I can.

EMDR relies on the brain's natural ability to heal itself by reprocessing memories, allowing clients to remember their traumatic experiences without being overwhelmed by them. I am trained in EMDR and have seen its power to quickly zero in on key memories that are causing distress, and facilitate healing.

Couples get caught up in a dance where each partner knows the moves well, knows that each step leads them further away from each other, yet can't break out of the cycle. Since graduate school, I have loved the power of EFT to identify this dance and help couples change the music. I use EFT with all couples I see and have completed an externship in EFT to be a better facilitator for my clients.

I am a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner-in-Training. Somatic Experiencing is a body-oriented therapeutic model for healing trauma and other stress disorders. It focuses on bringing our nervous system back into regulation, instead of constantly being activated because of past (or ongoing) traumas.

We live in a culture with very rigid views about gender and it takes work to unravel the many internalized beliefs we acquire throughout our lifetime. In order to provide the best care I can to my clients, I regularly attend trainings on working with the LGBTQ+ community, and participate in ongoing consultation groups with gender diverse and transgender clinicians.