Mark J. Goodman
- B.A., Brown University
- M.A., Tufts University
- M.A. in Applied Behavioral Science, LIOS
Mark J. Goodman did his undergraduate work at Brown University and his graduate work in education at Tufts University. For a number of years he taught middle and high school English. In June of 2000 he received his MA in Systems Counseling from The Leadership Institute of Seattle (LIOS) at Bastyr University. He presently is a psychotherapist in private practice as well as a Systems Consultant in the winter program at LIOS.
Mark has taught workshops on Nonviolent Communication (NVC) and on writing and creativity in the community, and currently teaches Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) based on the work and research of Jon Kabat-Zinn. He has extensive experience teaching communication and conflict resolution skills in Washington State prisons, where, from 2000-2004, as a founding member of the Freedom Project, he led workshops in NVC and mindfulness.
As a former English teacher, a poet, a published writer and a lover of words, Mark believes in the power of language and its ability to transform our world. He is passionate about finding different ways of meeting differences, whether the differences are between people, communities, or nations, or whether the differences and conflicts exist in our very own hearts. It is in finding a space large enough within and without to hold polarized viewpoints that healing and transformation can occur. He is committed to creating such spaces. His highest aspiration is to find ways of opening his heart as wide as possible and to heal the places within his heart still closed to love, and then to help others do the same.
“The highest form of love is to have intimacy without the annihilation of difference.” --Parker Palmer