John Howard, Founder
Founder, No longer seeing clients
John Howard is not seeing clients. He is a psychotherapist, educator, entrepreneur and spiritual teacher based in Austin, TX. He is best known for practicing the very leading edge of couples therapy techniques and trains other couples therapists and clinicians internationally. John is a Licensed Professional Counselor Supervisor and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist Supervisor. He is a professor of Private Practice in the St. Edward’s University Masters of Arts in Counseling program, and an instructor of Couples & Family Therapy at the Dell/Seton Medical School in Austin where he designed their couples and family therapy curriculum. John was 1 of 12 couples therapists in the world selected to form the founding core faculty of PACT®, an advanced neuroscience-informed institute that trains couples therapists in the latest methods. He studied closely for six years and later taught with Dr. Stan Tatkin, widely considered one of the best couples therapists in the world, and was Dr. Tatkin’s first teaching assistant for PACT Institute trainings. John has developed and led a relationship wellness program at Google, Inc., is the host of the Ready Set Love® podcast, which is focused on the new science of relationships, and was voted Top Mental Health Professional in Austin in 2018 and 2019 by the readers of Austin Fit Magazine.
John is the Founder of Presence Therapy®, a novel approach to psychotherapy that integrates mindfulness, interpersonal neuroscience, experiential therapy and psychobiology to offer an inclusive, comprehensive, and integrative approach to therapy and couples therapy based in the latest science. In 2017, he developed CORE Pre-Marital Counseling® in order to update premarital counseling for the 21st century, increasing its basis in neuroscience, attachment theory, and improving inclusivity and multicultural awareness in premarital work. Part of John’s work is to move the field of relationship counseling away from outdated cultural frameworks to science-based definitions of relationship health that do not exclude same-sex and nontraditional couples. In 2014, John created Ready Set Love®, an online educational platform for couples dedicated to the promotion of healthy relationships worldwide and the first online relationship improvement program based in the neuroscience of connection. John has interviewed numerous relationship experts on the popular Ready Set Love® Podcast, which has reached #41 in the world in Social Sciences on iTunes.
John has authored numerous articles for various media outlets including LifeHack, The Huffington Post, and print magazines, and writes a regular monthly mental health column for Austin Fit Magazine. In 2016, John presented Bringing Interpersonal Neuroscience into Couples Therapy at the Attachment, Trauma & Intimacy Conference alongside Drs. Dick Schwartz, Amir Levine, Ellyn Bader and Maggie Phillips. In 2013 he presented How to be More Connected as a Couple as part of the Extraordinary Family Life Conference alongside Drs. Dan Siegel and Shefali Tsabary. He has also taught seminars for the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapists, Attachment Parenting International, Keller Williams Realty International, and more. He teaches with Dr. Diane Poole-Heller as part of her online Mastermind series for therapists, has taught for Dr. Ellyn Bader’s Couples Institute training group for couples therapists, and runs private training groups for couples therapists in Austin, TX.
John is the founder of Austin Professional Counseling, an Austin-based counseling practice employing the most current treatment protocols for anxiety, depression and more. His most recent project is Presence Wellness, a multidisciplinary mental health center working at the leading edge of research and integrating mental, physical, and relationship health along with nutrition, yoga, community, meditation and more. At Presence, John hopes to further the application of next-level biopsychosocial care and create a playful community of seekers who want to grow and learn via the latest science-based approaches to health & wellness. John is on a mission to de-stigmatize therapy, make it hip and cool, and more relevant and accessible to a majority of people. He believes that workshops and education are an important service in the community and sees education as a front porch for those who may benefit from therapy. John believes in forming partnerships with other businesses and organizations, working collaboratively to bring awareness to the importance of comprehensive wellness that includes mental, emotional and relational wellbeing.
John helps partners in relationship reconnect and deepen their love. He also helps single individuals date wisely and handle depression, anxiety, confidence issues and more. He combines leading-edge science and empirical, evidence-based methods with a warm, empathic and caring presence. John’s non-religious spiritual development groups are popular with therapists and non-therapists alike and focus on helping members deepen their inner spiritual life. As a group therapist, he helps members develop authentic relating, communication skills, self-knowledge, and the ability to love and be loved.
John has been married to psychologist Dr. Charlotte Howard for 17 years. They have two children, 12 and 14. John is Cuban-American, his first language is Spanish, and he grew up on the lower East side of Manhattan in New York City. He is fluent in three languages and has traveled extensively, living and working in different countries. Multicultural awareness is a core part of John’s work. Partly due to the international nature of his own family, growing up in a diverse city, and living in various cultures, John is very inclusive of diverse cultures, religions, beliefs and lifestyles in his work and embraces different approaches to relationship life. Personally, John enjoys road trips to see different parts of the country, spending time with his kids, playing music, and brainstorming different ways to make the world a healthier place.
Professional Affiliations:
- American Counseling Association (ACA)
- American Association for Marriage Family Therapists (AAMFT)
- Austin IN (Interpersonal Neurobiology) Connection (AINC) (Board of Directors, 2014-2017)
- Austin Group Psychotherapy Society (AGPS)