Today we’d like to introduce you to Mark McGonigle.
Hi Mark, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
Becoming a therapist started with the journey through the wilderness of my own anxiety and depression at the age of 17. I like to view the onset of these difficulties as my first invitation into personal and spiritual growth, and honestly I can trace the issues back through my whole life. I was the eighth of nine children, a robust and energetic Irish Catholic family in Brookside, Kansas City, MO — but also a complicated family with a lineage of trauma, survival, and a strong will to live.
Both of my parents were children of the depression who lost their fathers young and had to endure through hardship. My maternal grandfather died tragically while receiving psychiatric care for (what appears to me) an episode of intense PTSD revolving around a family murder he witnessed at the age of 10. He was the primary witness who exonerated his uncle by his testimony. He was urged into psychiatric care by the same uncle, and in the hospital was administered Insulin Shock Therapy (only practiced for a few years in that era) and it killed him. I have always felt the weight of this heritage through my mother and I sometimes wonder if my work is to make amends for the ways that mental health care has not always been kind or helpful. My father was truly a child of the depression whose physician father died of influenza contracted in his work when my father was 6. My dad served in WWII — a bomber pilot shot down on his first mission, completing 62 more missions after that. His PTSD and tendency to self-medicate with alcohol, had a large impact on the family.
In the midst of all of these difficulties, the culture of my original family was inquisitive, full of debate, and the freedom to think for oneself. Of course, my thinking is what became problematic as I tried to navigate my own stresses. My trauma centered around education, with my learning style not being a perfectly good fit for the demands of a highly structured parochial education. I experienced and internalized a lot of shame, loneliness, and anger — but at my heart all I really wanted was to love and be loved.
When all of this led to a severe crash at age 17, I began to explore the pathways to better, which sounds nice but was actually hellish. But, I think my persistence led to resources arriving in the form of real quality guides — some therapists, helpful books, spiritual practice, and new understanding of myself. Those dark days lasted a few years, and then things got clearer and I knew I had a new chance at life.
After that I have grown through some remarkably difficult and wonderful circumstances. At the age of 20 I was present at the Hyatt Regency tragedy in Kansas City and administered first-responder aid (although I was just a kid) to the injured and dying. My eyes kept getting opened to the human condition, as I lost a brother to murder by gun, a brother left exposed to the dangers of the world by his struggle with addiction and mental illness. My decision to be a therapist did not congeal until I was about 30, when I realized that my life had been preparing for me to accompany others on their healing path.
I have had the most amazing mentorship in my work, mostly from clients who continue to teach me about myself and pathways of healing. I personally and professionally believe that we live in a golden age of understanding and application of ways to decrease personal, familial, and community suffering. I am glad to be part of the solution and to continue to grow at age 65. I do not see an end to my work. I love what I do, though time and aging may require me to slow down a bit.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
The struggles have mostly been in continuing to process and heal my own being. I also find a struggle in the way mental health care, like other human realities, has been commodified in a marketplace that marginalizes those most in need.
I actually believe in my deepest self that pursuing healing of self, as if it exists apart from the welfare of all, is a blind alley. I long for ways for therapy to become more an act of solidarity with each other, for the struggles to be seen with more compassion and for real relationship to be the cure. Our tendency to pathologize individual problems, often misses the systemic and communal nature of our pains. This is one reason I am increasingly seeking to provide therapy in group format, which is more affordable and often more effective than individual work.
As you know, we’re big fans of Wise Mind Therapy Services LLC. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
I am a one person operation in the business aspect of my work. I find that having the space to define my own ethics and pursue my practice in that context gives me the freedom I need to stay present.
As a therapist, I would consider myself a generalist, meaning I do not have a narrow band of specialty. I think that my presence is my strength, my learned ability to listen carefully and be attuned. The foundation of a listening relationship based on empathy and understanding, opens up the possibility of finding specific healing paths.
My experience has been broad and I have sought out training in a wide variety of approaches — and I now can see what they all have in common. This allows me to offer to my clients real choices about how to pursue their growth and healing. But, I don’t make these moves until my client lets me know that they feel very understood.
CBT, EMDR, ACT, MBCT, EFT — a bunch of initials people can look up — are all approaches I am familiar with and competent to provide. Lately, I have taken on the training to provide Psychedelic Assisted Therapy, and as these therapies become legal and available, I will be here to help.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
Oh — taking the risk of being oneself is what it is all about!! If we overplay safety, we tend to contract and close off. But the risks we take need to be organized around things in this life that really matter to us. Many people have not had enough time and space to explore their own solid values, the things that really matter to them. The worst thing that can happen is that we are taking risks for things that don’t even really matter to us. Being clear about what matters is what makes risk-taking fruitful.
I have taken so many risks. I have chosen alternative paths and have never regretted the adventure of those choices, even when they don’t exactly work out. My most cherished experiences are those born from the risk of moving boldly towards that things that really matter to me.
Pricing:
- I am a Medicare provider.
- I do not belong to any other insurance panels.
- Hourly Therapy Rate: $165
- 90 Minute Rate: $220
- Group Therapy Rate: $60
Contact Info:
- Website: https://markmcgoniglelcsw.com
- Instagram: @wisemindtherapyservicesllc
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WiseMindTherapy
