Peggy Lingard, LCSW

Peggy Lingard is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with four decades of experience helping people through major life shifts. She pairs practical skills with a warm, down-to-earth presence so people feel heard and involved in decisions about their care.

Her style is collaborative and action-focused. Peggy asks about a person's story, fears, and strengths, then helps build small, doable steps toward feeling better. She emphasizes doing as well as talking, encouraging activities that reconnect people to meaning and pleasure.

Peggy uses a blend of approaches, including cognitive behavioral therapy, acceptance and commitment strategies, client-centered methods, and skills drawn from dialectical behavior therapy. She explains options plainly and will share the research behind different techniques when asked.

Over her career she has worked with a wide range of concerns such as anxiety, depression, grief, trauma, relationship and intimacy issues, addictions, caregiver stress, and mood concerns. She also supports people facing identity and multicultural questions, HIV/AIDS related stress, and issues tied to family of origin or divorce.

Born from her own life changes, Peggy’s work values honesty, curiosity, and practical change. She invites people who are willing to increase transparency and let go of what no longer works to partner with her in therapy. Sessions are offered in English and are available to international clients from California.

Therapeutic approaches and online care

Peggy often combines cognitive behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy in her online work. Cognitive behavioral therapy helps people identify unhelpful thoughts and try new behaviors that change mood and daily functioning. Acceptance and commitment therapy focuses on noticing difficult feelings, clarifying personal values, and taking committed action toward a meaningful life.

She approaches treatment collaboratively. Peggy will ask about goals, preferences, and what feels most useful, then suggest approaches to try together. Clients and therapist decide what to practice and when to adapt methods based on progress and comfort.

Online therapy with Peggy is offered by video calls, phone sessions, live chat, or text-based messaging. Video lets people work visually when doing skills practice or guided exercises. Phone sessions can fit a work break or require less bandwidth. Live chat and text messaging suit brief check-ins, skill reminders, or day-to-day support between longer sessions. These options make it easier to schedule consistent work and to practice skills in the settings where life actually happens.