Counselor Chris Howard

Counselor Chris Howard Addiction & mental health expert helping individuals transform their lives.
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Recovery support, crisis intervention & real-world solutions. Chris Howard, CADC-III, CCMI-M
Founder of Ethos Recovery | Certified Counselor | Mentor | Advocate for Real Change

With over 15 years of experience helping individuals overcome addiction and rebuild their lives, Chris Howard brings a rare blend of clinical expertise, personal lived experience, and no-nonsense compassion to his work. As a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor (CADC-III) and Master Certified Case Manager Interventionist (CCMI-M), Chris has guided hundreds of individuals through some of the most challenging moments of their lives—and into sustainable, values-driven recovery. Chris is the founder of Ethos Recovery, a structured sober living community rooted in integrity, accountability, and personal transformation. His approach is direct, yet deeply human—focused not on coddling emotions but on building character, emotional regulation, and self-leadership. Chris believes recovery isn’t just about sobriety—it’s about developing the skills to live well, make hard choices, and show up for yourself and others, no matter what.

12/24/2025

Thought exercise:

Do you love and care about your parents or family members?
If so… how does your behavior demonstrate that?

Most people miss a critical truth: love is a verb.
It’s not how you feel. It’s what you do.

When someone is struggling with mental health or addiction, there’s often a massive gap between intention and impact. They’ll say they care deeply—yet their actions repeatedly communicate the opposite. Not just to the people around them, but to themselves.

Part of the therapeutic process is illuminating that disconnect.
Not to shame—but to confront reality.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Sometimes insight doesn’t come from gentle language.
Sometimes it comes from direct language.
Sometimes it requires saying the thing that cuts through the noise.
Sometimes we swear—not for shock value—but because it’s the language that actually lands.

If soft hasn’t worked…
If direct hasn’t worked…
If years of consequences haven’t worked…

Then maybe honesty needs to be louder.

Love is action.
Care is behavior.
Healing starts when those finally align.

Is this an effective strategy?
In the right moment, with the right intention—absolutely.

12/16/2025

Was this the appropriate approach?

12/08/2025

Do you agree with this assessment!? Answer below 👇👇🏽👇🏿

Most people think they’re “doing the work” because they sit in therapy and elevate their awareness around their issues.
Awareness is valuable—but it’s not transformation.

The real work happens outside the room.
It happens when life activates you.
When someone disrespects you, when you’re stressed, when you’re overwhelmed, when your old coping strategies start whispering for attention.

That’s where the growth is.
That’s where the new behaviors have to be practiced.
That’s where you meet the version of yourself you’re trying to build.

Therapy gives you language.
The world gives you feedback.
And the real work—the uncomfortable, unfiltered, inconvenient work—happens when nobody is standing next to you holding your hand.

If you want your life to change, don’t confuse insight with ex*****on.
Insight is the map.
Ex*****on is the miles.

11/21/2025

has always been my passion project.
Not because it’s easy work—but because it’s necessary work.

One of the central principles at Ethos is this: your mental health diagnosis is not your identity.
Too many people are told—directly or indirectly—that their diagnosis defines them. It becomes a label they carry, a limitation they internalize, and eventually a story they believe.

We refuse to let that happen.

At Ethos Recovery, we work diligently with the men in our program to help them transcend their mental health challenges—not absorb them into their identity. What they’re experiencing is a phase of life, not a permanent truth. It’s a chapter, not the whole book.

Our job is to help them develop the tools required to navigate that chapter with conviction:
• Resilience — learning to face adversity without collapsing under it
• Distress tolerance — staying grounded when emotions spike
• Character — building the internal structure necessary to move through the world effectively

This work is hard. It demands honesty, action, and a willingness to step into discomfort. But that’s exactly where transformation happens.

At Ethos Recovery, we believe in helping men build who they can become—not reinforcing who they once were.

Learn more about what sets us apart

11/12/2025

Send it! No more depression Olympics 😏

11/12/2025

Some people who work in mental health and substance abuse support services tend to overextend themselves in their personal lives, in the meantime, explaining to their clients how they need to set boundaries and/or understand boundaries that are being placed on them.

In the same vein, these people struggle to who are cancerous to their existence. In the event, you have relationships like this orbiting your life it’s time to make the call… Do I stay or do I go?

Does that sound harsh or just like reality?

11/10/2025

We live in a world where therapist (some, not all) think their job is to placate and validate people’s emotional states. This is an erroneous belief system that keeps people sick and trapped in the same insidious cycles that perpetuate their mental health issues. When you’re wrong I hope someone calls you out. If you don’t have people like that in your peer group, I suggest seeking elsewhere. These people don’t have your best interest. Growth is hard, staying same is even harder. Choose your hard!

11/09/2025

You may not agree with me and I may be right 🤪

1) Feelings aren’t facts
2) Narrative shapes your perception/world
3) All this stuff about race, gender/sex is noise. Build Skills
4) People are selfish, but that’s because life is hard.

Let me know if you think this is just nonsense or knowledge to live by 👇

11/06/2025

Random thoughts on treatment… Am I tripping?

11/06/2025

Entering recovery housing should be the most enriching experience. You never wanna go through again. The Collective culture and leadership of the environment is pivotal in eliciting fundamental change. There are Sober livings that allow people to smoke ma*****na come and go as they please and do whatever they want, thus ensuring they will inevitably be back in the same system, institutionalized. And then there’s

11/03/2025

Interfenerational trauma ends with you

11/01/2025

We can’t just drink

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Los Angeles, CA
90230

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