Mark Dunlap, LMFT

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 ...Your relationships?

...Managing your emotions?

...How to balance your work life, your important relationships, and your  own interests?

...Troubled by past events that continue to haunt you or effect your present life? 

...Not feeling as good about yourself as you’d like to?

...Wondering what’s next in life or how to proceed?

 feel better with yourself,  have better and more satisfying relationships, and be happier with where you are in life.  Give me a call at 805-683-8183 to set up an initial session.  We will meet together to decide if we are a "good match" - meaning that you  feel comfortable with me and have a sense I will really be able to help you - and then we can plan together how to best address your concerns."

MARK DUNLAP,  LMFT has over  30 years experience working with both individuals and couples to improve their personal lives and their relationships.

 Mark has a deep love and interest in helping both individuals and couples as they work through their challenges in life. 

 "I started my career as an educator and therapist in my early 20’s, when I realized how  important working on my psychological growth was to my own well-being , and I also realized that it was my calling to help others do the same.

"Over the years, I have trained in and been influenced by a variety of therapeutic modalities. These include especially approaches that integrate the mind and the body, such as Gestalt Therapy, Radix neo-Reichian, and Somatic Experiencing, and various approaches that have a strong emphasis on "mindfulness." I am also influenced by John Bradshaw's Inner Child work and by Internal Family Systems therapy, by the idea that we all have many different parts of ourself, which we need to get working in harmony with each other."

"I have been very interested in men’s issues and led men’s groups for a number of years. I have led workshops at Esalen Institute and I have taught classes on relationships for SBCC’s Center for Extended Learning (formerly Adult Ed)  for over 20 years.

 Mark fell in love with Dora and they married in 1983.

“About 1990 I began to think “There must be a better marriage than the one we’re having.”  Dora and I had been married about 7 years, and though most people would say we had a pretty good marriage, we were arguing more than we wanted, feeling disconnected often, and just not feeling like we were having the relationship we could really be having. We were both trained as therapists, yet I didn’t feel like I really understood what was going on in marriage, or how to do it well. We chanced across Harville Hendrix’s book Getting the Love You Want. It made so much sense that we went to a workshop with him, and then began training in his method, Imago Therapy.  We found it so helpful that we each decided to spend more of our time helping couples transform their relationships into ones that that are truly satisfying.”

"Imago Therapy's ideas and practices have remained the core of how I think about and work with couples, but over the years I continue to study and learn from many of the other interesting and valuable approaches that come along.  Among these are attachment based approaches like Sue Johnsons' Emotionally-Focussed Couples Therapy and Stan Tatkin's Psycho-Neuro-Biological Approach to Couple's Therapy (that a mouthful! but interesting work).  Other important influences are John Gottman's Scientifically-Based Marriage Therapy, the work of Ellyn Bader and Terry Real, and the work of Pat Love and Ester Perel in the area of sexuality.

"In essence, what I try to bring to my work with both individuals and couples is the best of current approaches tailored to the individual needs of my clients."