About Eric

I started my career as a family therapist in southern Arkansas working for Millcreek. I worked as a therapist at the Day Treatment program. This was an alternative school environment for children who were too unstable to attend public school. I also worked with the inpatient program. The inpatient facility was for children who were too unstable to live at home. While working at the facility, families were very important to me. I believed that families were the key to helping the children achieve growth. During my time there, I drove to homes of the parents in order to meet them, face to face. I wrote them weekly letters and gave them updates on their child’s progress. I met with parents and children together in family sessions.

I eventually changed employment and worked for Fordyce Counseling Clinic. I worked in the high schools and elementary schools. I worked with a broad range of children. Some the children were at risk of going to an inpatient facility and others simply had some trouble focusing. During this time, I spent a lot of time doing family counseling. I worked with parents on their own mental health problems. I worked with the families on the interactions that were maintaining the manifestation of the identified issues.  This was a rural area and many parents did not have the financial means to drive themselves to the counseling clinic. I spent many hours driving to the homes of the school children and talking to the parents about their own personal growth. I wanted the parents to see the value in themselves as people and as mothers and fathers.  

My family and I later moved to Fort Smith. I went to work for Vista Health. I worked in the child psychiatric ward. In the psychiatric ward I worked with hospitalized children who were at risk for killing themselves or others. I also worked with children who had long term behavioral problems. These children were often violent and had already been to outpatient therapy a number of years with little success. I focused a lot on helping the children learn new ways of solving their problems. I also spent considerable time helping the children feel successful and capable. I took extra time to help illiterate children learn how to read. I helped the children identify their talents and I challenged them to develop their talents further.  

In the Vista Health inpatient facility, I helped the parents build behavior plans and I helped the parents practice utilizing the plans when their children went on passes home, over the weekend. I also spent considerable time helping the parents and children interact with firm rules and outpourings of love.  My goal was to help the parents feel empowered and help the children feel loved.

I transferred to the outpatient clinic at Vista Health. In the outpatient facility, I worked with adults, adolescents, and children of all ages on a variety of different problems. I worked with adults on depression, anxiety, relational, anger, and addiction problems. My goal during that time was to first help people identify what they wanted out of life and second help them figure out a method for accomplishing that goal.

After leaving Vista Health, I started work at Day Springs. Day Springs was a school based and outpatient clinic service provider. I provided services to children and adolescents in school, families in the clinic, and adults in the clinic. I also coordinated services with mental health paraprofessionals and school counselors. I worked with lawyers, DHS, and probation officers. I often met with the children in the school and the parents at their home or in the office. I thought that if I can help everyone in the family reach their potential, then the home would be a more peaceful place.

Currently

I currently work in private practice. I work with a variety of populations. I work on marital, relational, individual, and family problems.

I work with children. I try to help them figure out what changes they want to make in their life. I help them figure out for themselves, what actions they can take to achieve their goals.  I help the children and parents work together in identifying and solving the problems.

I work with adolescents. I help them organize their thoughts and emotions. I help them navigate through social and family issues. I do a lot of work with families, helping them take a chaotic environment and making it into a peaceful home.

I work with premarital couples, helping them to identify changes that need to be made before they get married. I help them discuss triggers that might appear during their marriage. I help them define expectations in their marriage.

I help couples become closer together. I help them communicate better with each other so they can resolve their problems. I help them learn how to connect better with each other. I help them resolve differences.

I help individuals resolve depression, anxiety, relational, and other mental health issues. I help them figure out who they want to be and then work toward that. I help individuals work toward peace in their life. I help them weigh their decisions. I help individuals work on their half of a marriage/relationship. I help them figure out parenting techniques.  I help them organize their thoughts and emotions.