Eric Howell, LMFT

Eric Howell is a California-based licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) with 15 years of practice. He greets new clients warmly and recognizes that reaching out for help is a meaningful first step. He brings a calm, direct style and aims to make the work feel understandable and doable.

Eric uses plain conversation to help people sort through big life shifts, mood problems, and relationship strain. He listens for patterns in how people relate to others and themselves, then helps them try different ways to respond. Practical skills and clearer communication are common goals in sessions.

His background includes work in nonprofit, government, and private-practice settings. He grew up in the Northeast and moved to California in his mid-20s, and he also draws on personal experience of therapy during a difficult life period. That experience shaped his view of therapy as a combination of emotional processing and learning useful tools.

Eric describes himself as spiritually minded though not religious, and he is a gay man who has experience with LGBTQ concerns through work at the Gay and Lesbian Center in Los Angeles. He also has lived experience with family members who have serious mental health disorders and often helps people understand how that history affects current relationships.

In sessions he blends approaches such as attachment-focused work, client-centered conversation, and cognitive behavioral techniques. He encourages realistic steps, stronger communication, and the development of coping skills to handle stress, grief, addiction-related concerns, mood shifts, and midlife reassessment.

How his approaches shape online work

Attachment-Based Therapy focuses on patterns in close relationships and how early bonds influence current trust and connection. This approach can help when relationship cycles, abandonment worries, or attachment issues are getting in the way of feeling settled.

Client-Centered Therapy emphasizes a respectful, nonjudgmental conversation where the person’s experience guides the pace and focus. It supports people who need space to reflect, be heard, and discover their own answers.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts, feelings, and actions interact and teaches specific skills to change unhelpful patterns. CBT is often used for anxiety, depression, mood swings, and coping with life changes.

Choosing the right mix of approaches is part of the process. The therapist will work collaboratively to decide what fits a person’s goals, needs, and preferences. That plan can change as progress happens and new concerns emerge.

If you are considering online sessions, confirm the available session formats before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy schedule, reduce travel time, and keep check-ins brief when needed. Some people find it simpler to maintain continuity during life transitions and midlife decisions when they do not need to commute to appointments.