Q & A with Stephanie Eich
A Westerville, Ohio Mental Health Counselor
Mental Health Counseling Experience
Columbus Behavioral Health: What populations do you have experience with?
Stephanie Eich: I have experience with a variety of populations including those with eating disorders, history of trauma, depression, anxiety, and OCD. I also love working with parents, perfectionists, college students and the LGBTQ+ population. I am particularly passionate about helping to empower my clients. For example, helping a client who wants to leave an abusive relationship, someone who has a tendency to put others before themselves or helping to challenge a client’s guilt or self blame that doesn’t fit the situation.
Columbus Behavioral Health: How long have you been practicing?
Stephanie Eich: I have been practicing since 2013. My first clinical experience was during internship where I worked with clients with severe mental illness at the Partial Hospitalization Program (PHP) at Wexner Medical Center. After graduate school, I worked at a non-profit eating disorder treatment center for 3 years. During my time at the center, I ran groups in PHP, trained clinicians in level of care assessment, worked with clients on an individual level, and gained invaluable training. In 2017 I became independently licensed and have been working in private practice ever since.
Mental Health Therapy Style
Columbus Behavioral Health: How would you describe your style of therapy?
Stephanie Eich: I would describe my style as warm, validating, and direct. I have found that, in therapy, it is so important to give clients a space to learn about their feelings and feel them. A place where they can be vulnerable, and tell their story. Oftentimes, day to day life doesn’t allow for these experiences, so it is my privilege to create that space for my clients. I also find that many people were never taught why we have emotions and how to process them in healthy ways. I love going there with clients and helping them transform their day to day lives just by learning how to be in touch with these vital internal signals. We are human and emotions are here to guide us.
In addition to my focus on emotions, I do a lot of cognitive work with clients. I have found such value in teaching about thinking errors over the years. We ALL have them! Through the process of challenging our thoughts and retraining our brains, life can start to look and feel very different.
Columbus Behavioral Health: How do you usually get started with people?
Stephanie Eich: I start the same way with every client. During the first session, I have a set of questions I ask to learn about my clients history, the struggles that brought them, and what they want to get from therapy. Beyond that, the most important thing to me in early sessions is building the relationship as the foundation for our work.
Mental Health Counseling Progress
Columbus Behavioral Health: How do you usually look for progress in your client?
Stephanie Eich: Once I know a client well, together we are able to identify themes, thinking errors, faulty beliefs and maladaptive behaviors that stand in the way of their goals and overall wellness. When I see some of those things changing, I let the client know! I am big on reminding clients of their progress and often will pull up the first session note to remind a client where they were when we started and just how far they have come. Usually it’s pretty clear when I see them getting better – they come in looking brighter, their symptoms have lessened and they are more able to cope with stressors when they are faced with them.
Columbus Behavioral Health: Are there other parts of your experience that feel important for people to know?
Stephanie Eich:
To anyone who is reading this and considering therapy right now – I think it is important for me to acknowledge how hard it is to come to therapy. I consider all of my clients to be exceptionally brave to choose to talk about the hardest and most painful parts of life and feel the feelings they have often avoided for so long. I am lucky enough to be able to walk along your side as you begin this journey. I am here to provide non-judgmental support, guide and challenge you when you need it, and help you reach and exceed your therapy goals.
I love what I do, I value my clients, and am so excited to be taking on new clients at Columbus Behavioral Health!
To begin therapy, schedule with Stephanie Eich here.
