Eric Henley
Everyone experiences challenges in life
At times you may need someone to listen and encourage you on your journey. My goal is for every client to feel seen, safe, and most importantly, heard, and understood. It takes courage, humility, and love to pick up the phone and decide to begin therapy. I believe making the choice to participate in therapy can be the first step to positive and lasting changes.
It is through this process of reflection where people can undergo transforming and fulfilling experiences. When facing challenging issues, I believe in working collaboratively with clients to identify healthy goals and a treatment plan, where everyone is heard, and their experience is valued in the process.
My clinical style is supportive, warm, approachable, humorous, directive, appropriately challenging, and empowering. My clinical approach is Attachment-Based and Trauma Informed when assessing situations. I focus on a variety of concerns impacting the heart and life of those I see, including relational issues, marital counseling, parenting, stress management, anxiety, depression, and more.
Individual Therapy
We want to be heard but we also want to be less reactionary, explosive, or destructive in our relationships and lives, and these desires we have can feel irreconcilable and impossible to reach at times. It may seem counterintuitive to delve into these uncomfortable feelings knowing how we typically may respond. However, in doing so we get clearer on what we are really needing and become empowered in fulfilling that need in healthier and more constructive ways rather than destructive.
I believe wellness comes from balance in all the areas of our lives: emotional, physical, social, mental, and spiritual. Often things come up that can tip the scales beyond what we can handle on our own. In counseling we work together to help you find balance again, develop skills where needed, and work to move you into a healthier place
As a former coach, consultant, and mentor to business leaders and entrepreneurs, my approach to counseling, at times, is very solution focused and considers the obstacles, natural tendencies, and responses that may work against your overall wellness and balance in life. It may be simple, yet complex, life adjustments you are currently navigating, or it may be a “small” or “large” trauma you have yet to fully process that is holding you back from your full potential. You’re worth the investment to remove what’s keeping you off balance and missing what is possible for your future.
Couples/Marriage Therapy
Our relationships can be the source of our greatest joy and our greatest pain. When we feel connected and secure in our relationships, we can deal with whatever challenges life brings us. But when these connections are falling apart, we are miserable, no matter what success we are experiencing in life.
As humans we are designed to need each other and to work through life together. When the person we need most is no longer responsive to us, we lose our sense of connection and become understandably upset. Couples often find themselves in distress as they try to connect but are unable to for a variety of reasons. One partner may get angry while the other shuts down, hoping to not make things worse. You may face challenges around money, family relationships, children, sex, health issues, stage of life issues, or some kind of betrayal.
Sex and intimacy are key parts of a healthy long-term relationship. Sometimes we don’t feel connected in that place, we don’t find the pleasure, fun, and desire we had hoped would be a part of this relationship. There may be a trauma or betrayal that makes this space particularly tender and difficult to talk about. Whether we struggle with physical challenges, anxiety, or cultural messages around sex, therapy provides a safe environment to work through these difficulties and can provide current information and resources to light a path toward healing.
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) is designed to create healing experiences at a very basic level, creating a sense of safety from which trust and connection can develop. Through this process we work together to find those underlying emotions and needs that connect partners, enabling them to work together again and address those critical areas they want to improve.
I have completed several Advanced trainings in both Gottman Couples Therapy and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT). Clients often feel a greater sense of connection, love, and resilience in their relationship after receiving EFT and Gottman therapy. They have learned how to better communicate their felt needs and also repair the relationship after conflict and disconnection has occurred.
Discernment Counseling
If you or your spouse are considering divorce but are not completely sure that’s the best path, Discernment Counseling is designed for you. Discernment Counseling is a new way of helping couples where one person is “leaning out” of the relationship—and not sure that regular marriage counseling would help–and the other is “leaning in”—that is, interested in rebuilding the marriage.
I will help you decide whether to try to restore your marriage to health, move toward divorce, or take a time out and decide later.
The goal is for you to gain clarity and confidence about a direction, based on a deeper understanding of your relationship and its possibilities for the future. The goal is not to solve your marital problems but to see if they are solvable.
You will come in as a couple, but the most important work occurs in the one-to-one conversations with the counselor. Why? Because you are starting out in different places.
Number of Sessions: A maximum of five counseling sessions. The first session is usually two hours and the subsequent are 1.5 or 2 hours.
Discernment Counseling is not suited for these situations:
· When one spouse has already made a final decision to divorce
· When one spouse is coercing the other to participate
· When there is danger of domestic violence
If this feels like a good fit for you, contact me directly and to ask your spouse to ALSO contact me separately and ask specifically for Discernment Counseling options.
Trauma and Mindfulness (EMDR Therapy)
I also work with individuals dealing with trauma issues or struggling with depression and anxiety. I use a variety of techniques including mindfulness and EMDR. EMDR is an incredible tool used to help you reorganize the way your brain stores distressing memories. Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapy is an extensively researched, effective psychotherapy method proven to help people recover from trauma and other distressing life experiences, including PTSD, OCD, anxiety, depression, panic disorders, chronic pain, addictions, sexual assault, violence and abuse, neglect, and other distressing life experiences.
Background and Training
I have a Master of Advanced Studies in Marriage and Family Therapy from ASU. I am a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (LMFT) and Certified by the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health as a Clinical Supervisor. I also have a Bachelor’s degree from ASU in Sociology with Minors in Psychology and Religious Studies.
Additional topics and strategies we can focus on:
- Relationship Challenges
- Grief and Loss
- Low Self-Esteem/Self-Worth
- Anxiety and Depression
- Overwhelmed or Diminished Coping Skills
- Health Boundaries and Dealing with Others’ Impact on You
- Finding Meaning and Purpose
- Resolving Conflict
- Developing and Strengthening Intimacy
- Repairing After and Defending Before Infidelity Occurs
- Empathic Communication Strategies and Skills
- Restoring and Building Trust
- Re-authoring Childhood Blueprints Impacting Current Relationships
- Divorce Busting Strategies
- Parenting
- Developing Honest Communication
- Growing Trust Between Members
- Reducing Sources of Tension and Stress
- Helping Family Members Forgive One Another
- Bringing Back Isolated Family Members
Scheduling and Fees
Eric’s rates are $150 for individuals and $200 for couples for each 50-minute therapy session. Eric is also currently accepting some insurance clients.
To schedule an appointment you can select the Schedule Now button, email me at EricJHenley@REtherapyCENTER.com or call me at 480-908-7898