Mark & Marsha Friedman

Marsha Friedman is a licensed professional counselor, she received her bachelors degree in special education from Indiana University in 1972. She worked for 5 years at Lakeside Residential Center for adolescents.

She created and led seminars and counseling groups for parents, students and staff. She was an Outward Bound instructor and led students on several outdoor camping experiences. During this period she was also pursuing her masters in clinical counseling from the University of Missouri which she finished in 1977. She then worked for 3 years as a counselor for St. Louis County Office of Drug Abuse Prevention for Adolescents.

There she conducted individual and family therapy sessions, taught parenting classes, led groups on building self esteem, anger management, communication and social skills. She provided resources and information to the community, led several youth groups specializing in preventive and recreational activities. She did staff training on transactional analysis and gestalt therapy. After their son was born, she was able to be a full time mom and have a private practice with a home office. Her practice continued in St. Louis for the next 22 years. She worked with clients of all ages, individuals, couples, families and groups. Her approach was integrative and collective, she believed in the importance of finding the best methods for each client.

Her approaches for treatment include transactional analysis, gestalt, transpersonal counseling, Neuro linguistic programming, family systems, reality therapy. rational emotive therapy, assertiveness training, dream analysis, inner child work, and behavioral therapy. She believes that the most important ingredients in working with all clients, is to have an open, caring heart, trust and use your intuition, and be 100% present. The relationship with the client is at the heart of the therapy.

Mark Friedman, licensed professional counselor, received his bachelor degree in education in 1968 from Missouri University.

Mark was a teacher for 3 years in the St. Louis public school system. He was well known for his innovative teaching methods, sense of humor and his strong belief that every student is capable of greatness. During this period he received his masters in School Counseling. He worked for the St. Charles School District as a middle and high school counselor for 20 years. He emphasized a holistic approach to his counseling and guidance, with the talents, needs and dreams of the students being paramount. He felt it crucial to have a strong relationships with the families as well as his students. He created and led groups on social skills and communication, self esteem building, children of divorce, and parent effectiveness training. Mark's post-master training and education continued in transactional analysis and gestalt therapy, family systems and relationships, brief therapy, cognitive and behavioral therapies, divorce recovery and hypnotherapy for behavior change, post traumatic stress disorders, phobias, test anxiety, weight loss and addictions.

Mark and Marsha delight in their work together, and have created and led seminars on creating stronger self esteem, food addiction therapy, intimacy workshops for singles and couples, adult children of dysfunctional families, parenting, and organized and led family retreats.

When they moved to Costa Rica, they added equine facilitated psychotherapy to the counseling mix. They found that their 9 horses, of all ages and sizes are amazing co-facilitators/therapists in working with individuals, couples and families. They also worked for two years at Pillars of Hope, a residential school for adolescents at risk. They led daily counseling groups, individual sessions and led seminars.