Dr. Patishnock (puh·tish·nok), a licensed psychologist, joined K&A as a full-time senior consultant in November 2023—but he is no stranger to K&A and our clients. Over the last three years, while serving as the Inaugural Director of Counseling and Psychiatric Services and recently as Advisor on Strategic Planning at Michigan State University, he collaborated with K&A on selected consulting and executive search projects.

Mark has deep experience in campus mental health strategy, care, and services with a particular focus on prevention, demand management, and holistic wellness. The scope of his portfolio includes developing vision and strategy for campus health and mental health programs; expanding and enhancing services to meet the needs of all students, especially marginalized groups; re-engineering clinical and operational processes to enhance access, reduce wait-times and promote coordinated care; facilitating executive searches for leading roles in counseling programs; re-envisioning organizational, leadership, and reporting structures for counseling and mental health services; establishing satellite and embedded counseling locations; preparing for accreditation (e.g., IACS, LCME, APA); promoting diversity, equity, inclusion, and transparency within teams; and facilitating cultural change.

At Michigan State, he created a comprehensive mental health service for students by bringing the previous counseling center and psychiatric services unit together. Before that, he was the Inaugural Director of Student Counseling and Psychological Services at Augusta University in Georgia, where he integrated mental health services following the merger of Augusta State University and Georgia Health Sciences University. Earlier, he was a staff psychologist and QPR suicide prevention coordinator in the Counseling Center at Virginia Tech, where he also served on the Task Force for Health and Wellness Integration. Mark held adjunct faculty roles at Wake Forest University and Augusta University. He has experience lobbying for mental health legislation and funding at both the state and federal levels, and has held public service roles advocating for the care and needs of people who have Tourette Syndrome.

Mark holds a PhD in Counseling Psychology and BS in Psychology from the Pennsylvania State University, and a MA in Community Counseling from Wake Forest University. He trained at the Counseling Center at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and at Counseling and Psychological Services and the Career Center at Penn State; while at Penn State, he co-led the daily operations of the training clinic for the department of Counseling Psychology, Counselor Education, and School Psychology.

Mark was a member of the Association of University and College Counseling Center Directors (AUCCCD) while in his campus leadership roles. In 2017, he was honored with the Alumni Achievement Award by the President of Penn State. He resides in western Michigan with his wife, daughter and their King Charles Cavalier Spaniel, Lulu. In his spare time, he enjoys collecting antique baseball equipment from the late 1800s to the 1920s.

• Health, mental health, and wellbeing services and strategy
• Organization and structure of health and mental health services
• Integration of health-related programs and services
• Students of concern/behavioral intervention teams
• Executive search for health and wellness positions
• Diversity, equity, and inclusion