Counseling & Psychotherapy in SLO / the Central Coast / California
Welcome to my website. I'm Erik Edler, LMFT - a counselor/ psychotherapist located in San Luis Obispo. These are stressful and difficult times. I'm here to help. Current events may be generating anxiety or depression in you, or just making existing anxiety and depression even worse. The stress also impacts your relationships. But, even in the midst of our nation's current upheaval, our individual lives still go on. Now more than ever, it's important to seek out support and helpful feedback. Now more than ever, you need to be at your strongest and your best. I am happy to serve SLO and the cities of the Central Coast, from Paso Robles, through the Five Cities, and down to Santa Maria. Please feel free to call or email with any questions, and I'd be happy to communicate with you.
I am able to meet with local clients in person, but I continue to see many clients by video as well. Let me know what you prefer and we can talk about our options. In addition, I can see clients from any part of California by video. If you have any questions, please call me at 805-868-0767, email me at [email protected], or contact me using the form at the bottom of this page.
My Areas of Expertise - please click on the links below:
- Depression Counseling
- Anxiety & Stress Counseling
- Trauma & PTSD Therapy
- College Students & Young Adults
- Professionals/ Life Coaching
- Midlife Crisis Counseling
- Relationship Counseling
- Gay & Lesbian Counseling
- Faith & Spirituality
You can overcome depression, defeat anxiety, and build healthy, strong relationships. Live from the core of your True Self. Experience clarity, direction, and fulfillment of your potential.
Depression, anxiety, and relationship issues all interact. Your depression or anxiety may stem from current relationship problems or things that have gone wrong with relationships in the past. We all really need each other, but all too often, things go wrong. Relationships are so important because they form us and shape us, from our parents, our brothers and sisters, the kids at school, all the way from the past and into the present. Sometimes it's a lost love you've never recovered from.
Call for an initial No Charge 30-minute phone consultation: 805-868-0767
The Past is Not the Future: "Your relationship history is not your relationship future. You can change your relationship patterns; you can learn from your experiences and avoid the mistakes of the past." David Niven
The Scientific Secret to Happiness | Psychology Today
This is a great article to help understand how you can take active steps to work through difficulties, gain new perspectives, change your life for the better, and find real happiness. It's not a fast process you can achieve just by using new tools, though that's an important part of it. Real happiness is an outcome of real growth, maturity, and personal transformation. One important point is that our inborn personality type plays a big role. To live your best life, you have to know yourself well, starting with your inborn type. You have to have a clear understanding of what's really right for you and what's really wrong for you. It's this basic knowledge that allows you to know how to make the decisions that are right for you.
From the article: "Fifty percent of happiness comes from a genetic set point, 10% from life circumstances, and 40% from intentional activities." We need to make sure we're taking your inborn personality type into account, and make sure that the 40% of your intentional activities are healthy and right for you.
Follow the link below to see the full article:
Here's another outstanding article that I'd encourage you to see. Clink on this link for a great article from Huffington Post:
Talking To A Therapist Can Literally Rewire Your Brain
Getting good individual therapy or couples counseling is the right decision, if you're looking for deeper and more substantial healing, growth and change in your life and in your relationship. I strongly support all the supplemental help that goes into living a holistically healthy life, including massage, acupuncture, yoga, exercise, and nutrition. But it's good counseling and psychotherapy that can truly rewire your brain, and facilitate a whole new way of living and looking at the world.
Being a strong, healthy individual and having a good relationship go hand in hand. If you're struggling with discouragement, stress, frustration, self-esteem issues, or other difficult emotions, and you want to feel better, I work with individual clients to overcome the difficulties that hold them back, so that they can feel good again, and face their lives with confidence. This then becomes the best foundation for finding or building a healthy partnership.
In the field of psychology it is well known that the most important factor in having a good therapy experience and a successful therapy outcome is finding a therapist you relate to, who really understands you, and that you "click" with. So much depends on the therapy relationship itself. In my style of therapy I seek to strike a balance between careful listening with being interactive and offering feedback, and I emphasize new perspectives, working through emotions, and learning new skills.
I would be happy to talk with you about whatever issues you are facing, and together we can find a way to work through your difficulties. I believe that you will find the hope and encouragement you are seeking here.
"People are so afraid of being alone, they settle for living with someone in misery. People are afraid of ruin, but ruin can be the road to transformation. And in life, there are endless waves of transformation." (From "Eat, Pray, Love")
I work with a range of clients, disorders and issues. Please check out the menu bar for more information about the issues I can help with, or feel free to contact me with any questions you might have about your specific situation.
It's so important that you be your best, now more than ever! I believe in the latent potential that exists within people, and it's my calling and my passion to help people be true to themselves, build strong relationships, be the best they can be, and make their best contribution to the world. Let's take this important, historical moment and do all we can to fulfill our potential as individuals and couples.
Depression, anxiety, and relationship issues remain the three biggest emotional issues of our time, and our increasingly fast-paced and complex world can make these conditions even more painful and difficult. I'm here to help. When we get to the bottom of the problem and start you on the path of healing, you'll find you can really thrive -- maybe for the first time in your life. Let me encourage you to imagine the next version of yourself; then you get to make the choice to take the next step forward.
Please take a look around my website, and contact me if you have any questions. I look forward to getting to know you, and walking with you on the path toward your best self. Please let me know if you have any questions by reaching out at 805-868-0767.
Erik