About Eric
Eric Forster is a licensed clinical social worker with 20 years of experience helping people facing anxiety, stress, parenting challenges, career transitions, and addiction concerns. He focuses on practical steps clients can use day to day. He aims to create a calm space where people can talk through what’s most worrying them and try solutions that fit their life.
Eric listens for a person’s strengths and builds on them. He treats clients as the experts on their own story while offering structure and tools when those are needed.
Background and approach
Sessions move at a practical pace and focus on clear goals rather than vague theory. His background includes work guiding people through medical systems and supporting those with compassion fatigue. He also provides executive and professional coaching alongside traditional counseling work.
This mix gives him experience with both short-term goals and longer personal changes. Eric commonly uses approaches that help people reframe thoughts, set manageable goals, and tell their experiences in new ways. He draws from Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and Client-Centered ideas as well as Motivational Interviewing and Narrative Therapy to match the moment and client needs.
He practices in Illinois and works in English. People who choose to work with him will find practical tools, straightforward conversation, and support for making real changes in daily life.
Approaches that translate well to online therapy
Eric commonly uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy to help people notice and change unhelpful thinking patterns and behaviors; CBT is often used for anxiety, stress, sleep issues, and mood concerns by breaking problems into clear steps. He also draws on Client-Centered Therapy which focuses on listening closely, reflecting what matters to the client, and building on each person’s strengths to find practical solutions. Motivational Interviewing is another tool he uses to help people clarify their goals and increase motivation for change in areas like addiction, career moves, or health behavior.Choosing the right approach is part of the work together. He will talk with each person about their goals and preferences, and then shape the methods used to match what feels most helpful. That collaborative process can shift over time as needs change.
Online sessions include video calls, phone sessions, live chat, and text-based messaging. Video is useful for in-depth conversations and reading visual cues. Phone works well when bandwidth or camera use is limited. Live chat and messaging can be helpful for quick check-ins, brief coaching moments, or ongoing support between sessions. These options allow flexibility for busy schedules and different communication styles.
Questions people ask
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What this therapist works with
Most often
- Parenting issues
- Career difficulties
- Coaching
Also listed
- Addictions
- Aging and geriatric issues
- Anger management
- Antisocial personality
- Bipolar disorder
- Cancer
- Caregiver issues and stress
- Chronic pain, illness, and disability
- Codependency
- Communication problems
- Compassion fatigue
- Coping with life changes
- Depression
- Domestic violence
- Emptiness
- Family conflicts
- Family problems
- Fatherhood issues
- Forgiveness
- HIV / AIDS
- Hospice and end-of-life counseling
- Impulsivity
- Infidelity
- Intellectual disability
- Isolation / loneliness
- Jealousy
- LGBT
- Life purpose
- Men's issues
- Midlife crisis
- Mood disorders
- Multicultural concerns
- Narcissism
- Personality disorders
- Prejudice and discrimination
- Relationship issues
- Self esteem
- Self-harm
- Sleeping disorders
- Social anxiety and phobia
- Stress, Anxiety
- Trauma and abuse
- Traumatic brain injury
- Veteran and Armed Forces Issues
- Workplace issues
- Young adult issues
Therapeutic approaches
- Experience
- 20 years
- Licensed
- Illinois
- Languages
- English
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