David Marsten, LCSW
Co-Director
David received his BA in psychology from UC Berkeley and his MSW from UCLA. Following his graduate studies, he completed successive externships at Southern California Family Institute and the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto, California, where he studied narrative therapy with Jeffrey Zimmerman and John Neal and trained with family therapy pioneers, John Weakland and Richard Fisch. David started out working in adolescent day-treatment at Northridge Hospital, where he met with individuals and families and facilitated multi-family groups. He went on to become director of youth and family programming at Jewish Family Service of Santa Monica and after five years, director of clinical training. There, he developed one of the first narrative therapy internship programs in the Los Angeles area. In 1998, David established Miracle Mile Community Practice with a mission to provide affordable counseling and advanced training in narrative therapy. David has taught at the graduate level for many years and is currently on staff at Pepperdine University. He has trained and supervised over 200 therapy interns in Los Angeles and Orange County and has been in private practice since 1992. He has collaborated on several articles and a book chapter for a family therapy text. He has presented in the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe and is co-author, along with David Epston and Laurie Markham, of the WW Norton book, Narrative Therapy in Wonderland: Connecting with Children’s Imaginative Know-How.
Co-Director
David received his BA in psychology from UC Berkeley and his MSW from UCLA. Following his graduate studies, he completed successive externships at Southern California Family Institute and the Mental Research Institute (MRI) in Palo Alto, California, where he studied narrative therapy with Jeffrey Zimmerman and John Neal and trained with family therapy pioneers, John Weakland and Richard Fisch. David started out working in adolescent day-treatment at Northridge Hospital, where he met with individuals and families and facilitated multi-family groups. He went on to become director of youth and family programming at Jewish Family Service of Santa Monica and after five years, director of clinical training. There, he developed one of the first narrative therapy internship programs in the Los Angeles area. In 1998, David established Miracle Mile Community Practice with a mission to provide affordable counseling and advanced training in narrative therapy. David has taught at the graduate level for many years and is currently on staff at Pepperdine University. He has trained and supervised over 200 therapy interns in Los Angeles and Orange County and has been in private practice since 1992. He has collaborated on several articles and a book chapter for a family therapy text. He has presented in the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe and is co-author, along with David Epston and Laurie Markham, of the WW Norton book, Narrative Therapy in Wonderland: Connecting with Children’s Imaginative Know-How.
Laurie Markham, LMFT
Co-Director
Laurie Markham, LMFT, graduated with a BA in English from the University of Michigan and an MA in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University. She has over 15 years experience working with young people in educational and therapeutic settings, including medical, residential, schools, public mental health, and private practice. Prior to working solely in private practice, Laurie served as fieldwork coordinator for the University of Southern California’s marriage and family therapy program, overseeing the clinical training and internships of over eighty graduate students. She was also an early member of the University of California Los Angeles’ Behavioral Health Associates, an integrative health network, where she provided psychotherapy to people of all ages, including older adults and couples. Laurie has been a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California and a faculty member at Pepperdine University and California State University, San Bernardino, where she taught graduate courses in clinical psychology, marriage and family therapy, and school counseling. She has presented at national and international psychotherapy conferences on clinical training, power relations, and Narrative Therapy with children and families. She has published articles in Family Process and The Journal of Feminist Therapy and co-authored Narrative Therapy in Wonderland: Connecting with Children’s Imaginative Know-How with David Marsten and David Epston. Laurie became a managing partner at Miracle Mile Community Practice in 2012 and co-director in 2015.
Co-Director
Laurie Markham, LMFT, graduated with a BA in English from the University of Michigan and an MA in clinical psychology from Pepperdine University. She has over 15 years experience working with young people in educational and therapeutic settings, including medical, residential, schools, public mental health, and private practice. Prior to working solely in private practice, Laurie served as fieldwork coordinator for the University of Southern California’s marriage and family therapy program, overseeing the clinical training and internships of over eighty graduate students. She was also an early member of the University of California Los Angeles’ Behavioral Health Associates, an integrative health network, where she provided psychotherapy to people of all ages, including older adults and couples. Laurie has been a guest lecturer at the University of Southern California and a faculty member at Pepperdine University and California State University, San Bernardino, where she taught graduate courses in clinical psychology, marriage and family therapy, and school counseling. She has presented at national and international psychotherapy conferences on clinical training, power relations, and Narrative Therapy with children and families. She has published articles in Family Process and The Journal of Feminist Therapy and co-authored Narrative Therapy in Wonderland: Connecting with Children’s Imaginative Know-How with David Marsten and David Epston. Laurie became a managing partner at Miracle Mile Community Practice in 2012 and co-director in 2015.
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Debi Kitay, LMFT
Intake Coordinator and Co-Program Director of School-Based Counseling Debi is a licensed Marriage and Family therapist who received her BA from Antioch University, Los Angeles with a major in psychology and a minor in child studies. She also received her MA in clinical psychology from Antioch University, Los Angeles. Debi has been with Miracle Mile Community Practice for the last 5 years. She started as a trainee and continued on as a therapist. She currently serves as one of the Intake Coordinators and as Co-Program Director of School-Based Counseling. Concurrently, Debi is also the Associate Clinical Director/Senior therapist at Evo Health and Wellness. Evo is an outpatient addiction treatment program that focuses on the root causes of addiction-rather than just the substance use. Prior to Evo, Debi worked at Alternatives, an outpatient non 12-step addiction treatment center in Beverly Hills where she met with clients in group sessions. Additionally, Debi worked at TEENLINE, a confidential phone crisis support line for teens. |
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Kim Smith, LMFT
Intake Coordinator and Co-Program Director of School-Based Counseling Kim's 28 year career working with families facing life altering circumstances inspired her return to school in 2008. Her study of alcohol and drug counseling through Loyola Marymount University's extension program led Kim to pursue both her BA and MA in psychology from Antioch University, Los Angeles. Kim completed her internship at Miracle Mile Community Practice and is currently in private practice at our El Segundo office. Kim is dedicated to learning opportunities within the narrative community and has presented on the topic of Discourses around the Body at the Los Angeles Postmodern Participants Conference in August of 2015 and April of 2016. Learn more about Kim and her work here. |
