I’m a husband, dog person, psychology nerd, and traveller. Strong espresso is my love language. I’m also a Registered Psychotherapist who helps people tend to their inner life, feel whole, and grow into who they really are.

I came to this work over ten years ago, by way of asking myself the big juicy life questions. In the middle of a quarter-life existential crisis that turned out to be an initiation into authentic living, I did the sensible thing and went back to school to study philosophy and thanatology (the study of dying, death & grief). From there, I trained as a social scientist, collected two graduate degrees along the way, and spent my early career alongside people facing death and bereavement. Being close to death teaches you quickly what matters most in life.

The training that shaped me most was my own journey; I spent many years in Jungian analysis, in the client’s chair. I learned first-hand what it’s like to be listened to that deeply, to get to know my own psyche (dreams, drawings, & shadow included), and to be challenged honestly and with respect. So, I know what good therapy feels like from the inside, and that’s the therapy I give.

A century ago, the Swiss pioneer of depth psychology Carl Jung set out to understand how a person becomes who they are. What he found is that the path is never a straight line. It’s a spiral: we circle the centre again & again, meeting the same things at a deeper level each time, until we arrive at ourselves. That’s me above, crouched at the centre of a stone spiral in Scotland’s Fairy Glen. The peace sign and big smile are my own additions to Jungian theory.

Most people who find me have never read a word of Jung. They come because they’ve been good at living the life expected of them, and yet something underneath has started to object. The unconscious speaks in its own language: restlessness, fear, depression, numbness, tension, or a body that won’t cooperate. Behind all of this is often an ancient human wish: to feel alive, whole, and psychologically free to be who they are.

Today I keep a small clinical practice for two reasons: so that each person I work with gets my full presence, and so that I still have time for an inner life of my own. I also teach clinical courses at Western University and write a Psychology Today column that has somehow reached over half a million readers.

That’s my story… I’d love to hear yours!

Mark Shelvock, RP, MACP, MA (he/him)

Member in good standing, College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (#11562).