Welcome! My name is Linda Thompson and I have dedicated my life to helping adult and teen individuals cope with trauma, grief and loss, depression, anxiety and relationship issues. With over 30 years of experience as a psychotherapist, I know the key factors to successful therapeutic outcomes include creating a safe space for you to experience your suffering, while I attune to you and what you are experiencing. I will genuinely care for you through this difficult and often, the miraculous process of transformation. I will be in touch with your personal pace and I will guide you toward your goals using evidence-based treatment approaches to tailor your individual needs. My therapeutic goals include being present with you so that I am fully feeling, seeing, hearing, and validating you in the depths of your pain. You will develop resilience and join your most authentic and self-compassionate self. With a commitment to the therapeutic process, a willingness for self-exploration and consistency of aim and effort, you will live in the joy of the present moment.
Every client has different needs, and oftentimes, I find the same client may have differing needs from one session to the next. Sometimes there is a need to vent, sometimes a need to be honest with oneself, a need to instill motivation for change, a need to be educated, and a need to be treated. Some of the most useful tools in my toolbox include Motivational Interviewing, Eye Movement Desensitization Reprocessing (EMDR), Hypnosis, Mindfulness, Dialectical Behavioral Therapy, and Bibliotherapy.
I am not just a psychologist, I am someone who has struggled and continues to grow through my own personal psychotherapy and spirituality as well. I truly love my work, I love to learn, I love my family and friends, and I absolutely love to laugh. I find joy in humor, movement, meditation, nature, animals, adventure and all this life has to offer.
Education and Experience
This fact always surprises people, but I knew at the age of five years that I wanted to be a psychologist and I have dedicated decades of my life learning about myself, relationships, various approaches to therapy and multiple specializations throughout my career. At the young age of twenty-three years old, I started my psychotherapy career after I attained my master's degree. Working as an intern for twenty hours a week at a local community center with patients who were recently released from inpatient psychiatric hospitalization for over a decade, while I studied for my Ph.D. at the University of Southern California (USC), prepared me to work with some of the most difficult situations. I completed my pre-doctoral internship at the USC counseling center, where I counseled very bright and diverse college students, and where I learned the importance of the relationship dynamic as a tool for therapeutic change. My post-doctoral fellowship was in the counseling center at the Claremont Colleges as an eating disorder specialist. It was here that I was able to draw upon my specialty of chemical dependency in my Ph.D. program and implement a technique called motivational interviewing, which I find is helpful for increasing motivation for any type of therapeutic change. After I became licensed by the state of California in 1999, I started a private practice in Redondo Beach, California and have enjoyed working with a wide variety of clients from the age of 13 to 83.
Please call or text (310) 977-9944, or email me at linda@beachcitiespsychologist.com to schedule a free initial phone consultation. I provide psychotherapy in my office and on a secure phone and/or video telehealth platform, suited to your preference.
My Office:
