The son of Thomas Lugard Brayne (died 2009) by his marriage to Audrey Diana Thompson, Brayne was educated at Gresham"s School, Wymondham College, and the University of Leeds, where he graduated in 1973 Bachelor with First Class Honours in German and Russian.
In the 1990s Brayne retrained as a psychotherapist and in 2000 graduated with a Master of Arts degree in transpersonal counselling and psychotherapy at the CCPE (Centre for Counselling and Psychotherapy) in London.
After a first career as a foreign correspondent, he qualified in psychotherapy and since 2002 has specialised in working with trauma. As a therapist, he is an accredited Consultant in Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing). Brayne was with Reuters News Agency from 1973 to 1978, serving as its correspondent in Moscow and East Berlin.
In 1978 he joined the British Broadcasting Corporation, first as its German service correspondent in Berlin for two years, then as its Central European correspondent based in Vienna.
From 1984 to 1987 he was the British Broadcasting Corporation"s Radio News correspondent in Beijing, then from 1988 to 1992 was the British Broadcasting Corporation World Service Diplomatic Correspondent based in London. In 1992 he became Deputy Head of the British Broadcasting Corporation Central European Service and in 1993 Deputy Head of the Russian service.
From 1994 to 2003 he was the British Broadcasting Corporation"s Regional Editor, Europe. In 2002 Brayne set up the British Broadcasting Corporation"s project for Journalism and Trauma, and in the same year concurrently became Director Europe for the Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma.
In 2003, Brayne left the British Broadcasting Corporation to work in private psychotherapy practice and as Director (Europe) for the Dart Centre.
Brayne now works as Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing Consultant in London and Sheringham, Norfolk. In 1977 Brayne married firstly Jutta Hartung. They divorced in 2013, and Mark and Jutta remarried later that year.
Between 2004 and 2008, when he left the Dart Centre, he was a member of the board of the European Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (ESTSS).
