Dennis Pottenger

LMFT, 15 years of experience

Frequently rebooked

Empowering
Authentic
Warm

As someone who has struggled with self-esteem and identity issues, I can help you re-frame self-defeating thoughts, resolve unconscious inner conflicts, and learn to value and trust your own experience. Therapy can help you feel more authentic, alive, and confident. I don't have the answers for anyone. What I might be able to help with are the questions you may have if you experience anxiety, depressed mood, conflict in your relationship, or if you find feeling good about yourself to be a challenge you can't quite resolve on your own. It takes courage to ask for help. No one really likes feeling vulnerable, including me. But being vulnerable with another person, and with ourselves, is a proven way to repair unhealed wounds and repair the damage life causes.

Get to know me

In our first session together, here's what you can expect

Most people are nervous at the first session. This is normal. After all, you're about to expose yourself to someone you don't know--and to yourself--in a way most of us are not be used to. At the first session I'll welcome you into a private space where you can begin to look at your life without judgment from me. To help you get started I'll ask you what it's like to be in my office. This open-ended question invites you to become more aware of your own experience--what you're thinking and feeling. In the first session we'll look together at whatever you've come to talk about. My role is to listen and see if I can understand what it's like to be you so you can see if there is the beginning of a positive working relationship.

The biggest strengths that I bring into our sessions

I excel at helping you sit with what hurts as we work together to reclaim the real you--the part of you that may have been hurt in your family and now needs to be valued and cared for. I believe we find our gift in our wound. I'll host a safe space for you to show up in your life as the best version of yourself.

The clients I'm best positioned to serve

As a step-parent to adult children of color, I'm especially sensitive to issues related to race, gender, and identity. Our western patriarchal culture injures both men and women. If you've been hurt deeply, through trauma, or through experiences of marginalization and misogyny, therapy is a protected space for repair and healing.

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I identify as
Serves ages
Licensed in
Accepts
Location
Offers in-person in 5150 N 6th St, Fresno, CA 93710, Suite 115
My treatment methods

Humanistic

A humanistic approach helps you stay present to yourself in the moment in a bid to help you become more aware of your own experience. Humanism focuses on self-esteem which is created when there is congruency between our values (what we think and believe) and our actions. When our values and actions are aligned we feel good about ourselves and hopeful about our life even in the face of challenges.

Jungian

Jungian psychology views the psyche as an energetic system where unconscious energies—when encountered by consciousness—propel transformation and growth. From a Jungian perspective, symptoms are not problems to be fixed but invitations to attend to anxiety or depressed mood as the indication that a part of us needs attention and support. In other words we turn toward what hurts instead of deny or ignore discomfort. By attending to discomfort we learn to care for the parts of our personality that may feel wounded, uncertain, or uncared for.

, 3 ratings

1 rating with written reviews

July 28, 2025

I have been seeing Dennis for years and he has provided a safe, warm, comfortable and understanding environment where I have had the opportunity to look at and heal many traumatic experiences in my life. I am greatful for his support as I grow away from my past and in to my future.

Verified client, age 35-44
Review shared after session 1 with Dennis