About Eric
Eric Balme is a licensed marriage and family therapist with 32 years of clinical experience in California. He focuses on stress, anxiety, relationship and intimacy concerns, anger, and ADHD. He aims to make the first steps toward change feel manageable and grounded for people who are ready to try something different.
He helps people talk through their everyday struggles. Sessions focus on practical ways to manage strong emotions, reduce conflict, and build clearer communication.
Background and approach
He also supports people coping with addiction, impulsivity, guilt, or shame, and those dealing with the effects of separation or domestic violence. Eric draws on evidence-based therapeutic techniques and a straightforward, collaborative style. He creates a calm space for people to name what feels hard and plan small, doable steps forward.
Work may include building coping skills, changing unhelpful patterns, and practicing new ways of relating to others. Over three decades he has worked with a wide range of concerns such as caregiver stress, codependency, commitment and control issues, fatherhood challenges, and first responder stress. His approach is practical rather than theoretical, aimed at clear changes in daily life.
Sessions are offered in English and Eric is available to work with international clients. He supports people who want steady guidance and real skills for handling pressure, improving relationships, and managing attention-related challenges.
Evidence-based approaches and online options
Eric uses evidence-based therapeutic techniques to help people manage emotions and change unhelpful patterns. One commonly used approach focuses on building practical coping skills to reduce anxiety and manage anger; it teaches simple tools for breathing, grounding, and step-by-step behavior changes that can be practiced between sessions. Another approach emphasizes improving communication and relationship habits by identifying recurring patterns and rehearsing new responses, which can help with intimacy and conflict issues.Finding the right approach is collaborative. The therapist and client will review concerns, try strategies, and adjust the plan together based on what is helpful. This lets the therapist tailor interventions to attention differences, addiction recovery, caregiving strain, or relationship goals so work feels relevant and doable.
Online therapy here is offered through video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging to match different needs. Video calls are useful for a fuller conversational experience and visual cues. Phone sessions work well when bandwidth is limited or when you prefer not to be on camera. Live chat and text messaging are good for brief check-ins, step-by-step coaching, or when a shorter touchpoint fits into a busy day. These options make it easier to fit therapy into work, travel, or caregiving schedules and support steady progress over time.
Questions people ask
What kinds of concerns does Eric address?
What is his therapeutic style like?
How much clinical experience does he have?
What are his credentials and location?
Can sessions be held in languages other than English?
Are international clients accepted?
What session formats are available?
How does cost and scheduling work?
What this therapist works with
Most often
- Stress, Anxiety
- Relationship issues
- Intimacy-related issues
Also listed
- ADHD
- Anger management
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Codependency
- Commitment issues
- Communication problems
- Control issues
- Coping with natural or human-caused disaster
- Divorce and separation
- Domestic violence
- Drug and alcohol addiction
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- First responder issues
- Forgiveness
- Guilt and shame
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Obsessions, compulsions, and OCD
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Process addiction (porn, exercise, gambling)
- Self-harm
- Self-love
- Sex addiction
- Sexuality
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Young adult issues
- Experience
- 32 years
- Licensed
- California
- Languages
- English
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