01 · Who Eric works with

Eric works with LGBT, anger management and self esteem

Eric lists 15 specialisms and 18 further focus areas. Specialisms are the subjects Eric chose to list first, which is the closest a listing gets to “this is my actual practice”.

02 · In Eric's own words

What Eric says about the work

Reproduced in full and unedited - not summarised, not tightened, not rewritten in a house voice.

INTRODUCTION

Hello my name is Eric Howell, and I want to welcome you to Better Help. I am a Marriage and Family Therapist, and have been licensed in California for more than 15 years. I am originally from the North East. I am third generation in this country, of a mixed European decent. I moved to California when I was 25. I have worked in a variety of settings, including: Non Profit, Government, and Private Practice.

Whether you are a first timer to therapy, or you have been a client before, I want to acknowledge and congratulate that you took the first step in reaching out to get some help today. This is a big first step.

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SPECIALTIES • Depression • Anxiety • Life Changes • Grief and Loss • Self Esteem • Relationship Issues • Family Stressors/conflicts • Anger Management • Mood Swings • Sexual Orientation • Communication • Having a family member with a Chronic and Persistent Mental Illness

ALSO EXPERIENCE IN: Substance Abuse, addiction, trauma and abuse, multi-cultural experiences, children to older adult, aging, bipolar disorder, co-dependency, career difficulties, intimacy issues, blockage to creativity.

CLINICAL APPROACHES: Cognitive Behavioral, Gestalt, Humanistic, Attachment Based Theory, Psychodynamic, Narrative Therapy, Post-Modern Theory, and Solution Focused.

WHO AM I -PERSONAL BACKGROUND

Because choosing who you pick for a therapist is essential, I have decided to share some personal information about myself along with how I approach therapy. Although it is lengthy, I believe it will be helpful for you in choosing if I will be the right therapist for you.

So with that said, I came to becoming a therapist after having such a positive experience with therapy myself. So, I come to you not only as an experienced therapist, but with a deep understanding of what it is like to be a client.

I was approaching 30, when I was feeling as if my life was no longer working for me, and I was deeply unhappy. I made a commitment to attending weekly individual therapy sessions to get help. The safe space my therapist created was critical in helping me explore and understand the factors that were contributing to my unhappiness. It allowed me to look inward and reflect on painful experiences that have happened and shaped me. Revisiting these experiences in a safe supportive environment helped me better understand how they impacted me, and incorporate them into my being. As this process progressed, my therapist provided me with psychoeducation, giving me new coping skills, improving my communication, and seeing things with a new and different perspective allowing further change to happen. I started feeling as if I could direct my own life, and not have life directing me.

I was brought up Catholic, but do not see myself as a religious person, but have a deeply spiritual understanding of the world. This can easily be brought to our sessions if it will be of use to your experience.

I also have the unique experience of growing up with close family members who have been diagnosed with serious mental health disorders, such as Schizophrenia. With this comes unique challenges for all members of a family system. Understanding how this has impacted you, navigating and managing your relationship with these family members can be complicated and stressful, as well extremely rewarding. I have a depth of knowledge and experience with multiple areas within Mental Health, including Chronic and Persistent Mental Disorders, if this is something that has impacted your life either with a family member or close friends we can spend time understanding its impact.

I am a gay male and have had training and experience at the Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles. This impacts how I see the world and my perspective. Although, I see myself as an all-inclusive therapist this is a self-disclosure to assist with you choosing the right therapist for you.

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ELEMENTS OF MY PERSONAL STYLE OF INDIVIDUAL THERAPY

Balance and creating Meaning are critical in being a whole fulfilled being. How we blend and focus our time is important in shaping your mood and overall mental health. Exploring how you currently spend your time with the mixture of family, intimacy, career/work, social, community, serving others, spiritual, being in nature, and engaging in creative endeavors will be part of our work together.

One of the key ingredients to a successful experience in therapy is your experience with your therapist. It will be my focus and goal to offer you a warm friendly environment free of judgement. This will allow the space for you to understand your unique life experience and how it has shaped you. I do believe unraveling how culture, gender, gender preference, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, and family dynamics impact you and your world. I believe it is an important part of understanding who you are.

It is particularly important in our sessions for you to feel listened to. This is one of my strengths that I will be bringing to our sessions. My ability to put my full attention and focus on listening to what you have to say, and formulating what it all means. Often growing up, or in our daily lives, the people around us may not have the time or attention to allow us to feel fully understood. My goal is to have you feel fully listened to and understood.

I believe in a collaborative approach, where we work together to understand your problem, and develop goals for therapy. It is important from the beginning, that the goals we develop together are realistic and achievable. I welcome feedback, when you feel as if the sessions are no longer effective for you, or if I am not in tuned to your experience. There will be times I will remain silent to provide you the space to search within yourself for the answers. There are other times I will be providing you feedback from a place of concern and healing to help you learn about yourself and encourage change.

Another important part of our sessions is providing you with psychoeducation. Whether it is introducing you to new coping skills, teaching you effective communication skills, helping you make sense of what your experience is, putting experiences into a context, being able to put words to your thoughts and emotions. This often helps you feel as if you are getting something more concrete from our sessions. This is an area where providing handouts to read or to complete can be helpful. If this is something you appreciate, we can certainly incorporate more of it in our sessions. Also, if you respond well to reading and increasing your education in a particular area that we may be discussing. Please let me know, I will see if we can add some recommendations to our sessions for us to discuss.

Lastly, I typically blend an eclectic mix of therapeutic interventions to assist and support you. This helps me tailor interventions to your unique needs. The on-line experience is different than in person, so I believe it is important to acknowledge this. There are some real strengths, such as convenience, and affordability. I am hoping to hearing feedback to improve your virtual therapy experience. Some clinical theories inherently are more conducive in a virtual setting, so this will be taken into in account due to the medium in which we will be working together. I believe in exploring the past, when appropriate, to understand your present, but not staying stuck in the past. I want to help your today. Join now, don't put it off any longer.

Eric Howell, on the BetterHelp listing · read 9 Oct 2026

03 · How Eric works

The 6 approaches Eric lists, in plain English

These are the clinical methods Eric lists. The descriptions are Maker Therapy's, not Eric's - a general explanation of what each method is, so the list means something before you have spoken to anybody. They are not a claim about how Eric runs a session.

Attachment-Based Therapy

Reads present-day relationship difficulty through the lens of how safety and closeness were learned early on. The therapeutic relationship itself is treated as part of the work, because it is where the pattern tends to show up first.

Client-Centred TherapyPerson-centred · Rogerian

The therapist does not steer toward a technique or a diagnosis. They offer sustained, non-judgemental attention and reflect back what they hear, on the premise that people find their own direction when they are genuinely listened to. Often what people mean by “someone who just gets it”.

Cognitive Behavioural TherapyCBT

Structured, present-focused work on the loop between what you think, how you feel and what you then do. Usually means noticing a thought pattern in the room, testing it against evidence, and practising something different between sessions. Among the most heavily researched talking therapies for depression and anxiety.

Motivational InterviewingMI

A way of talking about change with somebody who is genuinely in two minds about it. The therapist does not argue for the change; they help you say your own reasons out loud, which is the part that predicts whether it happens. Common around substance use and health behaviour.

Psychodynamic Therapy

Works on the assumption that current patterns - in relationships, at work, in how you treat yourself - have a history, and that seeing the history loosens the pattern. Less structured than CBT, usually longer, and more interested in what comes up unbidden than in a weekly agenda.

Solution-Focused Brief TherapySFBT

Starts from where you want to end up rather than from how you got here. Sessions look for the times the problem is already smaller and work out what is different about those, so the number of sessions tends to be short and the work concrete.

Also listed

• Existential Therapy
• Jungian Therapy

04 · What happens next

From this page to a first session

Eric practises through BetterHelp, so the route in is BetterHelp's. This is that sequence, written by Maker Therapy from the platform's published process - not a description of Eric's own practice, and not a promise about how quickly anything happens.

1. A questionnaire, not a booking form

   BetterHelp opens with a set of questions about what you are dealing with, what you want from therapy, and any preferences on the therapist. You are not booking Eric at this point.

2. Naming Eric specifically

   BetterHelp matches algorithmically by default, so asking for Eric is a step you have to take. There is a field for requesting a specific therapist during sign-up, and you can switch afterwards from your account. Starting from a link on this page does not by itself assign you to Eric.

3. If the caseload is full

   You will be offered somebody else rather than put on a waitlist. Worth knowing, because it is easy to assume a match is the person you asked for.

4. The first conversation

   A first session is typically history and orientation: what brought you, what has been tried, what you want to be different. It is also where the questions in the next section belong.

5. If the fit is wrong

   Changing therapist on BetterHelp does not need a reason. A first session that does not click is common and is not a verdict on therapy. That option existing is the main practical difference between a platform and a private practice.

05 · Before you commit

4 questions worth asking Eric

Built from what Eric actually lists, so they are answerable and specific rather than generic. Maker Therapy's, not Eric's - Eric has not seen them and is under no obligation to answer any of them.

• “You list both Cognitive Behavioural Therapy and Attachment-Based Therapy. Which do you lean on with someone like me?”

  Those two point in different directions - one structured and led by the therapist, the other led by you. The answer tells you what the sessions will actually feel like.

• “How do you decide when someone is ready to work on a traumatic memory itself?”

  Pacing is the biggest safety question in trauma work. A clear, unhurried answer here matters more than any credential.

• “With 15 years in, what has changed most in how you work?”

  Long experience is only an advantage if it has been examined. This tends to surface whether it has.

• “How do you handle the gap between sessions if something comes up?”

  On BetterHelp this varies a great deal by therapist. Better to know the rhythm now than to discover it on a bad week.

06 · Practical details

Credentials and licensing

Credential

LMFT

Licensed in

California

Licence

CA LMFT 48383

Licence number

48383

Licence expires

31 Mar 2028

NPI

1417084369

Years in practice

15

Gender

Male

Languages

English

International clients

Not accepted

Listed since

15 May 2026

07 · Provenance

Where every line on this page came from

Eric's name, credential, state, subjects, approaches and biography are read from BetterHelp's therapist roster, which Maker Therapy re-reads once a day; this page reflects the reading taken on 9 Oct 2026. The licence number and NPI are cross-checked against public registers.

The plain-English method descriptions, the first-session walkthrough and the questions are written by Maker Therapy and labelled as such wherever they appear.

Maker Therapy is not BetterHelp, does not take bookings, and has not met Eric. There are no reviews or ratings on this page because we have no way to verify one. If you start therapy through a link here, we may be paid a commission - it does not change your price and it does not affect who appears here or in what order.

Something on this page wrong or out of date? Report it and it will be checked against the source.