A critical thinking approach to better mental health.

Currently accepting new clients.

Native English speaking Cognitive Behavioural Therapist (BA Hons, MSc, PGDip) based in Friedrichshain Berlin

Accredited with the British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapies (BABCP) and the European Association of Behaviour and Cognitive Therapies (EACBT).

Are you looking for help with…

  • Anxiety

  • Depression

  • Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD)

  • Men's Health

  • LGB

  • Men's Sexual Dysfunction / Disappointment

  • Self-Esteem

  • Confidence

  • Panic Attacks

  • Phobias

  • Health Anxiety

  • Insomnia

  • Body Image

  • Life Purpose

My Approach

My ultimate aim is to empower you to become your own therapist. Together, we’ll work on stepping back from psychological distress, unhelpful thinking patterns, and dysfunctional problem-solving, fostering a compassionate and accepting relationship with yourself. My goal is for you to live a meaningful, authentic, and satisfying life, guided by your values rather than your distress.

To achieve this, I use established, evidence-based Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) methods alongside emerging CBT approaches inspired by Eastern philosophy, such as Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy and mindfulness-based CBT. I also incorporate coaching to enhance the process. My specializations include treating depression, low self-esteem, and various anxiety disorders, such as general anxiety, social anxiety, health anxiety, and OCD.

Our self-perception shapes how we interact with the world. If you believe you’re ‘not good enough,’ it might influence your body language, confidence, and willingness to take on challenges, reinforcing that belief. Together, we’ll identify and challenge these self-limiting beliefs through personalized experiments designed to align your actions with your goals. By adopting the behaviours of your envisioned future self, you’ll gain new insights into yourself and your potential.

Critical thinking is at the heart of my therapeutic approach. CBT encourages the critical appraisal of our thoughts, helping us identify and challenge unhelpful patterns. My approach extends this principle to include a thoughtful exploration of the social narratives that shape our beliefs and influence our behaviour. Together, we’ll draw inspiration from the philosophies of Socratic questioning, Stoicism, and Existentialism to cultivate resilience, self-reflection, self-knowledge, and self-compassion. By prioritizing clarity and grounded understanding, I’ll help you explore your beliefs, navigate uncertainty, and make decisions that feel true to you. My approach is not influenced by critical social justice theories or identity politics. These can often encourage a mindset that focuses on internal shame and external blame rather than self-compassion and personal agency; which can unintentionally foster feelings of victimisation and helplessness, rather than empowerment, self-actualisation and autonomy.

My approach extends beyond psychology, incorporating insights from Occupational Therapy, which highlights the vital role of our physical environment in shaping well-being. My extensive clinical career has included collaboration with multidisciplinary teams, such as nurses, dieticians, personal trainers, physiotherapists, and social workers. This breadth of experience allows me to provide holistic guidance on healthy living and physical well-being.

Therapy with me is about more than reducing distress—it’s about helping you make the most of your time and potential. Life is short, and I want to help you live it fully. Drawing from my experience in rehabilitation, team leadership, and mentoring, I integrate life coaching with therapy to help you build confidence, advance your career, foster social connections, overcome procrastination and indecision, and find sexual fulfilment, manifestation, and spiritual development.

About Me

My first degree, earned in 2000, was in Art and Philosophy. After graduating at 20, I spent a decade finding—and sometimes losing—myself. Festivals, parties, traveling, mischief, and hedonism took center stage while I worked in mental health support roles. Eventually, it was time to get my act together, and I realized I wanted to continue my work in mental health. I initially considered Art Therapy but then discovered Occupational Therapy (a misleading name—I think "Functional Therapy" would be more accurate).

Occupational Therapy is all about helping people overcome physical and mental challenges to re-engage with the activities that matter most to them. The idea of using creative and meaningful activities as treatment, combined with the problem-solving nature of the role, really appealed to me. My training involved placements in neurological rehabilitation, mental health rehabilitation and acute trauma. I completed my MSc in OT in 2012. For six years, I worked as an OT in intensive care within rehabilitation within secure psychiatric settings, including the prison service. In 2018, I was accepted into a Postgraduate CBT training program within the NHS. As a trainee CBT therapist, I spent a year working in a busy well-being clinic in North London under close supervision.

After qualifying, I took on a role as department manager in a large, five-ward psychiatric hospital. I supervised a team of nine, developed and implemented the therapy program, and established a recovery college. Throughout my career, I’ve always believed in following gut instincts and living according to core values. Brexit was a crunch moment for me to honour my value of adventure. In the middle of the pandemic, I took a leap of faith and moved to Berlin to see if I could make it work here as a private practitioner. I‘m happy to say the risk paid off.

Testimonials

  • I learned a lot from you and you really helped me out the past few months dealing with all the different work/friendship/relationship/personal growth topics. I feel like I can trust you and you're sincere and non-judgemental. And also fun to talk to.

    Tip, 2024

  • Thank you for all you have done for me. I am truly living a different life due to your guidance and patience :)

    Rita, 2024

  • Mark is an extraordinary therapist. His ability to help you bring clarity and focus to an issue, resulting in profound life changes, is remarkable. He is uniquely personable, genuinely caring, and most importantly, wise. I am forever grateful for his guidance.

    Keith, 2024

  • My work with Mark taught me invaluable lessons about love, compassion, and trust that I will carry with me throughout my life. From the start, Mark supported me in taking an active approach to my own healing, while allowing me the space to process things at my own pace. I not only gained a deeper understanding of the patterns that were causing me pain, but learned to harness the tools to work through and ultimately overcome them. Berlin is tremendously fortunate to have such a caring and competent practitioner working here.

    Alison, 2024

  • Mark is a phenomenal therapist - he's kind, empathetic, reliable, knowledgeable, and extremely effective. I've become so much happier and emotionally stable since I started working with him and I really cannot recommend him highly enough.

    Greg, 2024

  • I feel like I truly know what I want now and I'm having fun working towards it every day. Obviously this all started with taking the first step and actually going to therapy, so I just want to say thank you again for all the great advice and guidance. I hope you're doing fantastic and if I ever need someone to talk to I'll give you a shout. Thanks Mark.

    Darragh, 2024

  • I contacted Mark after experiencing some deep traumas dealing with personal relationships and work/finance issues which I was completely unable to cope. Mark led me through this dark period and enlightened my situation with his helpful exercises and calming therapies. It was so great to have someone like him to talk to in such a dark period, and I might not be here had we not engaged.  I credit Mark for shedding some light on past issues and allowing me the resources to find my strength and push through. He is warm, sensible, and an incredible listener, teaching me many ways to cope with my issues of impulsivity and emotional instability.  I am a better person today because of him and I would recommend his services to anyone experiencing difficulties of any degree. His personal attention and weekly assignments allowed me to take my issues into my own hands and come to resolution within myself to overcome the obstacles I was facing. I regularly utilize these techniques in my current life and thank him greatly for showing me the way.

    Julian, 2021

  • I can't recommend working with Mark enough. He is a great listener and I really appreciated his approach to therapy. Our work together helped me identify the areas in my life I wanted to change and make actionable steps to work towards those goals. We ended up speaking about way deeper issues than I planned on, and I am very grateful for his help. It is not an overstatement to say it has truly changed my life.

    Corey, 2023

  • Thank you for all your help over the past few months. You really created a foundation of support, which allowed me to build towards managing my OCD. Thanks for the clarity and understanding too, this really helped. I’ll miss our sessions and the perspective they gave me – it has kept me on track. You are a credit to our health system.

    Anthony, 2018

  • Thank you for helping me to put my brain back together! My course of CBT has taught me so much about myself and I feel like I finally have the insight to take charge of my mental health. I´m eternally grateful.

    Phil, 2019

Get in touch

 

MBS Therapies | Gabriel–Max Straße 16, 10245

To help MBS Therapies best serve your inquiry, please describe the issue that you’ve been facing with as much detail as you can. If you would like to book a free online consultation, then please tick the box and I will endeavour to respond at the earliest opportunity to arrange this with you. You may also wish to email Mark directly to make an appointment:

mark (at) mbstherapies.org

Your name, email address and other personally identifiable information are stored securely and kept confidential. MBS Therapies will never share your details with marketers or send you messages unrelated to services that MBS Therapies provide.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

  • No. Currently I am only able to work with private paying clients.

  • Not at first. The evidence for CBT interventions supports weekly sessions. Weekly sessions also support the building of rapport and momentum.

  • Yes. I am happy to offer a 30 minute no charge or obligation online call. This is an opportunity for me to get an understanding of what is currently going on for you, and is also an opportunity for you to get a sense of whether I am a good fit for you.

  • The rate is €95 (EUR) for one hour.

  • I send an invoice at the end of each month for all the sessions that occurred during that calender month. Bank transfer is the most convenient method for both parties, however alternatives can be discussed.

  • I request a minimum of 24 hours notice for a cancellation, and I reserve the right to charge in full if the notice is less than this. However, I am aware that life has a tendency to lay waste to the best laid plans, and my preference is to always reschedule for the same week if possible.

  • I follow the German and BABCP rules regarding confidentiality.