Eric Eichler is a social worker at VA San Diego Healthcare System, where he coordinates care at the Center of Recovery Education (CORE), a clinic that provides recovery-oriented mental health services to veterans with schizophrenia, PTSD, and other mental health concerns. Eric provides group and individual psychotherapy and recovery coaching, and leads wellness programming including a yoga class and and a walking club. He is passionate about advocating for equity and patient choice in health and mental health care, and in creating and implementing systems of care that prioritize health, not just remission of illness.

Eric also trains clinical social work and psychology interns and postdocs and leads several hospital committees, including the MSW Intern Training Committee and the Complementary & Integrative Health Utilization Tracking Committee. As VA San Diego's Director of Peer Support Services, Eric trains and supports veterans who have experienced mental illness to partner with mental health professionals on clinical teams throughout the hospital, to improve access and quality of care. He was a founding clinical staff member at the ASPIRE Center, VA San Diego's 40-bed residential treatment facility for homeless veterans with mental health concerns, in Old Town.

Eric grew up in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Smith College School for Social Work in 2012 and has lived in San Diego ever since. He graduated from the UC San Diego/VA San Diego Interprofessional Fellowship in Psychosocial Rehabilitation & Recovery-Oriented Services in 2013. He loves practicing yoga, hiking, rock climbing, and playing music.