"Mark is a thoughtful, warm and effective therapist. He applies his extensive knowledge in a way that makes sense to patients, making them feel contained, understood and confident of their capacity to address relevant factors in their lives."

Dr Vince Gradillas

Consultant Psychiatrist. (Retired)

"Mark Boyden is a great asset to the Brevin Homecare team. He has a wealth of experience and knowledge that he uses effectively to help get the best outcomes for his clients. They are given the support to be confident in approaching what can be difficult subjects in their recovery."

Brevin Homecare Ltd

http://www.brevinhomecare.co.uk

“Mark has a high level of ability to learn by engaging in discussions and reflecting on his practice. This in my view is due to his listening skills and interpersonal qualities. He is insightful with clients, open and receptive to feedback during supervision. Both his conceptual understanding and clinical skills are excellent displaying empathy and deep appreciation on a variety and range of clinical issues. His enthusiasm and commitment to client work is admirable and he applies himself with tenacity, ethical responsibility and professional understanding. Mark has been involved in assessing clients, in liaising with other professionals such as General Practitioners and Psychiatrists and knows when to refer clients on for a psychiatric assessment. I consider Mark to be a person with excellent clinical abilities, academic and professional integrity. His clinical judgements have also been appropriately professional and with clear boundaries. His work with clients demonstrates that they benefit from his therapeutic input. He is honest and motivated in understanding the process of psychotherapy and the different aspects of the therapeutic relationship.”

Dr Maria Luca PhD

MA Psych, BA (Hons), UKCP Reg, SFHEA, MBACP

Accr Supervisor, Accr Mediator – Regent’s University, London

"Mark Boyden is a well-trained therapist who provides skilful, focused attention."

Dr James Low

The Munro Centre, Guys Hospital

www.slam.nhs.uk

“I find he has a great impartiality which I have often found useful through difficult times. I find his unbiased outlook of life and others to be a welcome guide in my own development. I have seldom seen a man work harder on his own self awareness and education. And even through his own trials and tribulations, he has remained incredibly reflective and kind, something that speaks volumes of his ability to now hear others and to help them find their heart from within the most traumatic of personal challenges. We all change through life to some extent; but Mark has changed beyond most people I know through dedication to himself, his family and his desire to help others. And as he brings together over 50 years of learning, cultural diversity, managerial proficiency and healing empathy, I feel he has found his true calling as a therapist."

Mark Drax

Addiction Mentor & Coach

“I didn’t fully appreciate the value that Executive Coaching could bring me and was initially very wrapped up in the transitions I was going through at work to see beyond those issues. As a senior level public sector worker working in a highly structured position, change was an area I was struggling with so needed support in working through that.

Mark enabled me to first of all identify the positive side of change and how I could embrace this with the right tools we were to develop in the coaching relationship. Mark helped me to face this change and worked with me on my personal development, pushing me to review my intentions and the subsequent interactions with my peers.

He challenged me to develop new ways to overcome different obstacles and create balance between my work and professional life. This in turn as enabled me to be much more flexible in my approach and understand the decisions I needed to make to take me to the next level.

Mark has revolutionised my thinking but more importantly, my actions by tactfully but firmly coaching me to address areas that needed to be considered in a different way.

I now have a renewed sense of focus and feel able to move forward in a positive and much more empowered way ready for my next challenge, which I now view with excitement rather than fear”.

Senior Army Officer

Ministry of Defence

"Mark, we have been together for approximately eight years now. It will be difficult to precis such a long, complex, yet successful journey, but I will try. When I first came to you, I had been extremely unwell for a long period of time. Bipolar, yet again. As you know, something I have been dealing with since I was sixteen. You showed great empathy while you helped guide me on that most precarious of bipolar journeys, the very uneven and unreliable road to recovery.

I had been in therapy for some time when we first met and had already made some significant changes to my life. I had started my journey with two truly outstanding analysts, relationships I thought I would never be fortunate enough to replicate. There are sometimes isolated occasions in life when it is nice to be wrong and I was about to find out on our journey together there was a lot more for me to discovery.

What has always been very important to me is that on that difficult journey we took together, at no point did you try to rescue me, a trap a lot of therapists tend to fall into. I have always felt it is my responsibility to plot my own path to recovery and growth, to do the work I must do and to heal myself. I needed support on that journey and yours never wavered, but you also had the sensitivity to give me the space and the respect to grow at my own pace and with my own sense of autonomy.

More recently you have helped me negotiate the most difficult period of my life. The death of my darling wife, Vanessa. You were there for me in my darkest hour, and not once did I pick up that you were feeling sorry for me. I didn’t want pity and you knew that. I needed empathy and yours was there in abundance. I have been able to deal with my tragic loss with strength and dignity, never being ashamed to shed my tears in public, allowing myself to grieve deeply, openly, and healthily. I had reached a stage of my life when I was certainly not expecting to encounter new horizons. But to my surprise, I have. New interests that are exciting, inspiring, and rewarding. A clear sign that my work with you that has opened my mind to further challenges. To my amazement I am giving speeches on bipolar to help other people. A significant departure from the egocentric driven past of a hit songwriter. All part of the life-changing progress I have made while working with you.

Thank you for the vitally important part you have played in my life over the last number of years. It has been a relationship that has covered all aspects of my emotional and psychological landscapes. It is a relationship that I treasure.

Nicky Chinn

Songwriter and record producer