About Mark
Mark Sikora is a Washington-based LICSW with four decades of clinical experience. He focuses on helping people navigate anxiety, depression, grief, relationship strain, and ADHD concerns. He approaches work in a direct, supportive way and aims to build on each person's strengths.
He believes people are the experts on their own stories. Sessions emphasize practical steps and clear goals rather than jargon. He offers steady support while helping people notice patterns that get in the way of daily functioning and relationships.
Background and approach
Mark uses a mix of methods suited to the issue at hand. He draws on Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to identify unhelpful thoughts and behaviors. He uses Acceptance and Commitment Therapy to help people clarify values and take values-based actions.
He also includes client-centered techniques to keep sessions focused on the person’s perspective. For relationship concerns he incorporates ideas from the Gottman Method that aim to improve communication and connection. Across issues such as trauma, addiction, bipolar disorder, sleep and eating problems, or coping after loss, he emphasizes practical skills and steady progress.
He helps people develop coping tools for stress, work through anger or parenting strains, and manage career and life transitions. Mark brings 40 years of practice in Washington and offers a calm, experienced presence. He supports people who want straight talk, clear strategies, and collaborative planning to move toward better day-to-day functioning.
Approaches that translate well to online care
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy helps people clarify what matters to them and commit to actions that align with those values. It focuses on building willingness to experience difficult thoughts and feelings while moving toward meaningful goals, and it can be useful for anxiety, depression, and life transitions.Cognitive Behavioral Therapy looks at the links between thoughts, feelings, and behaviors to create concrete changes. It offers practical techniques for managing anxiety, mood problems, sleep difficulties, and attention-related challenges like ADHD.
Finding the best therapeutic approach is part of the work. The therapist will collaborate with each person to choose methods that match their goals and preferences. That means trying strategies, checking what helps, and adjusting the plan together as needs shift.
Online formats make it easier to fit therapy into real life. Video calls allow face-to-face conversation when visual cues matter. Phone sessions can be helpful when bandwidth is low or when someone prefers not to be on camera. Live chat and text messaging support brief check-ins, skill coaching between sessions, or a written way to process thoughts. These options increase flexibility and help people stay consistent with the work.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Relationship issues
- Family conflicts
- Trauma and abuse
Also listed
- Abandonment
- Addictions
- ADHD
- Adoption and foster care
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Attachment issues
- Avoidant personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Blended family issues
- Career difficulties
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Co-morbidity
- Coaching
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Control issues
- Coping with life changes
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Dependent personality
- Depression
- Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder (DMDD)
- Dissociation
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Eating disorders
- Emptiness
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Gender dysphoria
- Grief
- Guilt and shame
- Hearing impaired
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Intimacy-related issues
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Money and financial issues
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Panic disorder and panic attacks
- Paranoia
- Parenting issues
- Personality disorders
- Phobias
- Post-traumatic stress
- Postpartum depression
- Pregnancy and childbirth
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sexual assault and abuse
- Sexual dysfunction
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Visually impaired
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 40 years
- Licensed
- Washington
- Languages
- English
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