Mark first escaped his dysfunctional and abusive home through backpacking with the local scouting troop, and he left home for good as a seventeen-year-old, enlisting in the U.S. Marine Corp.
After serving in the Marines, Mark went to college to be a marriage counselor but soon developed a desire to work with youth within the faith-based community. This evolved into a focus in education with an emphasis on wilderness experiential education. Mark was a wilderness backcountry guide for several California-based companies working with “at-risk” youth, CEOs, and families. Mark also did a stint as a professional rock climber for Disneyland. Together with his wife (his best friend), Mark backpacked across thirteen countries and was homeless for eight months upon return to the States.
Eventually, Mark found employment with the largest sheriff’s department in the world, in Los Angeles County. It did not take long before his assignments steered him toward delinquency intervention. Mark received the prestigious “Leadership and Communication” award from Toastmaster International, and he has been recognized by the California State Senate, the Governor of California, and the United States Congress for his work in juvenile intervention. His focus has gone from street gangs to child abuse to delinquency intervention. Now in his 24th year as a deputy sheriff, Mark has worked the last fourteen years in juvenile delinquency intervention, where he developed a state-certified Juvenile Intervention Instructors Course that has trained numerous community-based leaders and other law enforcement agencies.
Mark continues to work with families in crisis, focusing on the challenges of parenting and spreading the belief that if we can change the way adults communicate, we will change the way kids behave!
