Linda Meier Abdelsayed LMFT

The biggest change in how I work with clients came when I became a parent myself. I had spent years supporting parents by using evidence-based approaches when I was in my 20s. All of the suggestions I provided were backed by research and shown to be effective and I couldn't understand why parents would ask me "are you a parent?". Once I became a parent I realized how my approach needed to change. Just because a strategy is backed by research doesn't mean it's going to work for each baby. I realized that I needed to customize my care to reflect each family's unique needs, abilities, and cultural backgrounds. I became more empathetic and understanding. Now, as a mother to 7 year old twins, I use humor, ideas, and reflection in my work with new parents to help them understand that they are not alone and that we will come up with unique solutions that works for them.

• California, Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, 52323

After graduating from Pepperdine University with a Masters in Clinical Psychology I spent six years working with children and their parents in the Los Angeles area. During that time I worked on parenting skills, children's emotion regulation, and supporting the parent-child bond. In 2016 I gave birth to my twins which didn't only change my personal life but also my professional one. I realized that getting mental health support for new moms would be close to impossible in the traditional office-based therapy setting and so created Smart Talk. Smart Talk is a virtual mental health group that focuses on supporting women in their infertility, pregnancy, and postpartum journey. We are a collective of therapists who are all mothers ourselves so we all have professional as well as personal experience. We use a non judgemental approach to therapy and sessions feel like a conversation with an old friend rather than a stuffy medical appointment.