Linda often sells her 1st book at conferences where she leads workshops for betrayed women.
ABOUT LINDA MACDONALD
Linda J. MacDonald is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in the State of Washington. She has 33 years of experience working with couples and individuals seeking to recover from the trauma of Infidelity. Linda has spent her career helping people reconcile their marriages post-affair, whenever possible. And when this isn't possible, she has sought to help betrayed spouses in their journey to recovery.
In an effort to help unfaithful partners who truly want to save their marriages succeed, she wrote a book, How to Help Your Spouse Heal from Your Affair: A Compact Manual for the Unfaithful. It has sold over 145,000 copies so far and received over 2700 positive reviews.
Her newest book, Redeeming the Post-Affair Divorce: Heal Your Life, Restore Your Faith When Infidelity Breaks Up Your Marriage, has earned 4 book awards. It integrates the spiritual, emotional, and psychological aspects of recovering alone. She incorporates many true stories, both her own and others', along with practical steps for healing.
Linda leads small groups and teaches workshops on a variety of related topics. She is also known for her moving one-act psychotherapeutic play, “Broken Heart,” which has been viewed by over 3 million people worldwide. It is now available on Amazon.
She co-founded three Christian counseling centers over the years, working alongside a team of skilled, spiritually sensitive therapists for collegial support.
Linda obtained her Master's in Marriage and Family Therapy from Seattle Pacific College and is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist with the State of Washington.
You can listen to and/or watch some of her workshops and interviews on the PODCASTS page.
She's honored that her newest book has won four notable book awards:
PERSONAL LIFE
Linda grew up in an alcoholic home, where alcohol often seemed like a rival for her father’s devotion to his wife and children. Her parents loved each other and remained married, but his addiction damaged both their family life and his health; he died at only 54. Watching an outside attachment intrude upon an otherwise loving marriage may have planted some of the earliest seeds of Linda’s interest in helping couples recover from infidelity.
About halfway through her career as an Infidelity Specialist, Linda experienced betrayal firsthand when her own husband fell in love with a woman at work. After two painful years, he chose divorce. Linda was devastated. She wondered whether her life was over, her family irretrievably broken, and even whether she could continue the work she had devoted her career to.
Instead, that experience deepened and reshaped her calling.
It strengthened her determination to help couples save marriages damaged by affairs—especially after seeing how often unfaithful spouses who genuinely wanted to repair their marriages unknowingly sabotaged their efforts. That insight eventually led to her first book, How to Help Your Spouse Heal From Your Affair.
Her own recovery also revealed how little many therapists at the time understood betrayal trauma. Linda pursued further training in trauma treatment and became a strong advocate for trauma-informed care for those suffering the emotional and physical effects of relational betrayal.
Most importantly, she gained a profound compassion for the betrayed and abandoned. She now understood firsthand the trauma, grief, spiritual confusion, and loss that can follow when a spouse leaves after an affair. Over the years that followed, she continued studying infidelity, trauma, and recovery while helping others navigate the same difficult road.
Linda retired from clinical practice at age 69 to devote more time to writing. Her own journey inspired Redeeming the Post-Affair Divorce: Heal Your Life, Restore Your Faith After Infidelity Breaks Up Your Marriage—the book she wishes she had possessed during her own darkest years. Because faith and small-group support were so important to her healing, she also created the accompanying Redeeming the Post-Affair Divorce Workbook.
Today, when she isn’t writing, Linda enjoys long walks with Dan, her husband of twenty-two years, time with their adult children and eight grandchildren, camping and hiking around Mt. Rainier, and coffee with friends. She also loves decorating, reading good books, and discussing theology with her recently retired pastor husband.
To keep up with Linda’s podcasts, books, and future publications, sign up for her occasional newsletter through the Contact page or the form below.
BELOW ARE SOME OF THE PODCASTS AND SUMMITS LINDA HAS BEEN FEATURED AS A GUEST ON:
