- Mark Colclough
Certified Psychotherapist and Couple Counselor since 2004
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The magic that occurs in the therapy room has captivated me ever since I sat – as a client – with a trained psychologist when I was around 19 years old. I had a premonition that I would revisit this experience, but from “the other side of the dynamic,” so to speak.
Several years later, I founded my first start-up with two friends, subsequently selling the whole thing to investors. I then made the decision to embark on a journey around the world. It was in Egypt, whilst plunging into the stunning Red Sea, that I acquired the skill of proper swimming and earned my certification as a PADI Divemaster. I completed my training as a PADI Dive Instructor while in Thailand.
When we meet in therapy, don’t forget to ask me about what the scorpion and the old man in Thailand taught me.
My role as a dive instructor has taken me to diverse locations across the globe – Egypt, Thailand, Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras – enabling me to mingle with people from all walks of life who share a passion for exploring the ocean’s depths.
A planned dive is an inherently intimate experience. Most dive clients unconsciously recognize that we, as professionals, ensure their safety and well-being underwater. Nearly all the dive clients I’ve guided beneath the waves have eagerly anticipated the exhilaration that diving brings – encounters with large marine life, navigating strong currents, witnessing stunning colours, and observing the intricate beauty of coral formations. With additional training I could also offer deep dives, wreck dives, and cave diving. These underwater excursions often held immense excitement and significance for everyone involved. Such experiences have brought forth numerous intimate and enjoyable moments that are shared in conversations on land or aboard the boat, in between dives.
Resting between dives, the conversation would often shift from sharing the dive’s raw and beautiful moments to also discussing the perils of the ocean. We would talk about how foreign and out-of-depth everything feels while diving as deep as 40 metres, exploring World War II wrecks, or venturing into caves so tiny that one must sometimes wiggle through narrow openings and seemingly impossible arches.
Regardless of the dive club I worked with or the nationality, gender, age, and sexual orientation of my dive clients, a pattern emerged.
More often than not, dive clients would begin sharing experiences from their lives, perhaps unconsciously striving to bridge the gap between what they observed underwater and what resonated within themselves, connecting these experiences to situations in their everyday lives back home.
And so, I found my calling at a depth of 40 metres. I aspired to gain qualifications in the field of psychology and relational couple therapy. I embarked on this journey in 2004 and haven’t looked back since.
Now, I am one of those fortunate professionals who doesn’t feel as though I’ve worked a single hour in a career spanning two decades. Every moment spent with each client still carries the same explorative and brave uniqueness that I observed during conversations on dive boats and ashore back in 2002.
I discovered that depth — both underwater and within oneself — brought greater profundity, even when on the surface, be it onshore or aboard a boat.
I am grateful to the thousands of individuals who have opened their hearts, sharing their childhoods, relationships, marriages, challenges, and traumas in the secure environment that a well-facilitated therapy room provides.
I hope to welcome you to therapy as well, and I am excited to assist you in discovering your profound self at depth.
Warmly
