Barbour Behavioral Health provides outpatient therapy and evaluation/assessment services for both children and adults and continues to grow with the addition of new accomplished staff members and specialized programs. Across the staff, there are therapists skilled in trauma, play therapy, parent-behavioral training, and substance abuse treatment among other specialty areas.

Dr. Mark Tipton, Psy.D. recently joined the Barbour Community Health Association (BCHA) team and filled us in on his new role with Barbour Behavioral Health:

Q: What makes you qualified as a behavioral health specialist?

A: I have an MA in Information Sciences from Marshall University, an MA in Developmental Psychology from Antioch University and my Psy. D in Clinical Psychology came from Capella University.

Q: Are you from Barbour County?

A: I’m actually from a little town called Rosamond, California. I first came to West Virginia to attend undergraduate school at Glennville State University.

Q: Why behavioral health at BCHA?

A: I’ve been in this field over 30 years and I’ve come to love working with kids and younger patients. With BCHA I have room for growth and opportunity. I’m also thrilled to be working with such an experienced team of talented counselors and therapists.

Q: What do you hope to achieve through your role at BCHA?

A: The area I am hoping to enhance at BCHA is family therapy. I help parents set limits and teach them how to cooperate with each other in a way that allows their children to grow up in a healthy environment.

Q: What are your specialties or professional interests?

A: My specialties and interests include working with families, delinquents, substance abuse, depression/anxiety, and ADHD. I am looking forward to becoming more involved with neurofeedback and trauma.

Q: How do you personalize treatment?

A: I always critique myself after a session and do some research usually by reading journal literature. Another aspect is taking the initiative to connect with the client by finding out about their interests and then learning about them myself. This helps me connect with clients.

Q: What do you like to do outside of work?

A: I enjoy hanging out with my wife and traveling to visit our kids. I read Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and like to do some interpretations and enjoy learning about the first-century Roman culture. In high school, I played multiple sports and I’ve been a runner ever since. All five of our kids are out of the house, so we recently decided to foster children, which has been a great adventure for us.

For more information on Barbour Behavioral Health or to schedule an appointment with Dr. Tipton, please call 304-823-4000.