About
Gary Penn is a California-licensed psychologist (PhD, licensed 1999) who practiced individual and couples therapy in the Los Angeles area under license PSY16149; that license expired December 31, 2024, and his current website now presents him primarily as a life and mindset coach, speaker, and author.
Services
- Relationship Issues
- Self-Esteem
- Addiction
- Anxiety
- Career Counseling
- Depression
- Grief
- Infidelity
- Parenting
- Sexual Abuse
- Spirituality
- Stress
- Substance Use
- ACT
- Attachment-Based
- CBT
- Culturally Sensitive
- Emotionally Focused
- Existential
- Family/Marital
- Family Systems
- Humanistic
- Interpersonal
- Person-Centered
- Psychoanalytic
- Psychodynamic
- Relational
State licenses
-
California · License #PSY16149 · Psychologist Expired
expires 2024-12-31
Reputation
- Healthgrades Rated 1 / 5 1 review
What clients praise
- Described in an unverified Yelp comment as an insightful, caring, and direct therapist/career coach
- Praised as experienced and compassionate in a self-submitted Psychology Today testimonial
Common critiques
- A single Healthgrades review (n=1) describes him as blunt, dismissive, and arrogant during sessions
In the field
Sources
The facts on this page are drawn from 16 public sources and independently fact-checked before publication.
Psychology Today directory
- Credentials (PhD psychologist), Westwood LA office address, $250/session fee, sliding scale, superbills provided (no direct insurance billing), specialties/issues/modalities/populations, 28 years in practice, and a note that license Psy16149 is expired (psychologytoday.com)
provider website (drgarypenn.com)
- Bio describing transition from clinical psychologist to life/mindset coach, book, and podcasts (Your PsychPod, Doctor & Mrs.) (drgarypenn.com)
- Contact phone/email and links to Facebook and Instagram accounts (drgarypenn.com)
NPPES NPI registry
- NPI 1902806607 for Gary J Penn; taxonomy Psychologist / Psychologist, Clinical; enumeration date 2005-07-26; address [redacted] (npiregistry.cms.hhs.gov)
state licensing board (CA Board of Psychology, via search.dca.ca.gov)
- License PSY16149 held by Penn, Gary Joseph; status Expired; issued 1999-03-03; expired 2024-12-31; 'No practice is permitted'; no disciplinary actions documented; graduated California Graduate Institute, West LA in 1996; address of record [redacted] (search.dca.ca.gov)
WebMD directory
- Confirms NPI 1902806607 and notes an expired California license; 0 patient reviews; address [redacted] (doctor.webmd.com)
Healthgrades directory
- 1.0/5 rating from 1 review describing the provider as blunt and arrogant; address [redacted] (healthgrades.com)
Yelp
- Listing exists under 'Penn Gary, PhD' at [redacted]; a positive review text was visible via search snippet but the page itself could not be directly re-fetched to verify rating/count (yelp.com)
npino.com (NPI mirror directory)
- Corroborates NPI 1902806607, license PSY16149, and the Beverly Hills practice address (npino.com)
mentaltherapy.io directory
- Lists license PSY16149 as 'Active' with a September 2025 update timestamp — this conflicts with the primary CA Board of Psychology record (mentaltherapy.io)
- Profile exists under handle gary-penn-223355b5, headline 'Therapist, Corporate Trainer, Author' (linkedin.com)
- Public page 'Gary Penn, Ph.D.' (@GaryPennPhd), linked from the provider's own website (facebook.com)
X (Twitter)
- Account @drgarypenn under the name Gary Penn, Ph.D. (x.com)
YouTube
- Appeared as comedian Pete Holmes' former therapist on the podcast 'You Made It Weird with Pete Holmes,' aired 2023-05-31 (youtube.com)
Amazon Books
- Author of 'I Can't Believe My Life Has Come to This' (2012) (amazon.com)
Spotify
- Hosts the podcasts 'Doctor & Mrs.' and 'Your PsychPod with Dr. Gary Penn' (open.spotify.com)