Stephen Creel, LMFT

Stephen Creel is a licensed marriage and family therapist (LMFT) with 24 years of clinical experience. He draws on his own life changes to connect with people who feel stuck, helping them find clearer ways forward. He speaks English and practices in California. Stephen began his working life as a professional musician, playing drums in Hollywood clubs. That time brought joy and hard lessons. After deciding not to pursue music as a career, he found therapy helpful and chose to train as a clinician. He earned a Master of Arts in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University in 2001 and built a career supporting people in rehabs and independent practice. Much of his work focuses on addiction, trauma, and mood concerns such as depression and anxiety. He also helps with relationship and family issues, grief, parenting strain, career transitions, anger, and struggles with self-worth. Additional areas include codependency, communication problems, caregiver stress, and process addictions like gambling or compulsive sexual behavior. In sessions he treats therapy as a collaboration. He aims to create an honest working relationship where the person and therapist figure out what’s getting in the way. He often helps people identify painful beliefs about themselves - like not being good enough - and then challenge those ideas so life feels more genuine and calmer. Stephen uses a mix of approaches including client-centered work, cognitive behavioral techniques, trauma-focused methods, motivational interviewing, and EMDR when appropriate. He draws on decades of experience helping people recover from substance use, trauma, and emotional distress.

How Stephen’s Approaches Translate to Online Therapy

Client-centered therapy focuses on listening and reflecting back what matters most to the person. That helps build trust and lets goals emerge naturally, which is useful for relationship concerns, self-esteem, and life transitions.

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) looks at how thoughts and actions keep problems going and teaches practical skills to change them. CBT can help with anxiety, mood problems, panic, and patterns that affect relationships.

Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a trauma-focused method that can reduce the emotional charge of traumatic memories. When appropriate, it can be used to address post-traumatic stress and long-standing traumatic reactions.

Finding the right approach is part of the work together. The therapist will collaborate with each person to decide which methods fit their needs, goals, and comfort level. Plans can change over time as progress is made and priorities shift.

Session format details are not specified here, so confirm current online options before booking. Online work can make it easier to fit therapy into a busy day, allow shorter check-ins when needed, and remove travel time. Licensed professionals can use these approaches effectively over distance when the format supports focused conversation and therapeutic tasks.