John Porterfield, MFT
My name is John Porterfield, and I'm a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist (MFC 35445) and Certified Jungian Analyst with over 30 years of experience working with individuals and couples on their journey toward healing, meaning, and personal transformation.
In addition to my private practice, I teach workshops on dream interpretation and personal growth, supervise clinicians, and serve as a training analyst. I'm a past president of the C.G. Jung Study Center of Southern California, and I continue to be involved in training and mentoring the next generation of depth-oriented therapists.
People often come to therapy when something in life stops working, when the usual ways of coping no longer ease the pain, and deeper questions begin to rise:
Who am I now?
What really matters to me?
Is there something inside me trying to emerge?
In my work, I offer a space for reflection, exploration, and deep listening. Grounded in the tradition of Jungian depth psychology, I attend not only to your symptoms and struggles, but also to your dreams, images, and the unconscious messages that often guide us toward growth, even through suffering.
◼︎ MY APPROACH
I see therapy as a collaborative process—a relationship where insight, warmth, and care meet. My clinical training as an LMFT allows me to support you with evidence-based tools and grounded emotional understanding. My training as a Jungian Analyst brings a deeper dimension: attention to the symbolic life, the archetypes that shape us, and the call toward wholeness that lives within each of us.
Over the years, I've worked with people navigating:
▪︎ Grief and profound loss
▪︎ Life transitions and midlife questions
▪︎ Anxiety and emotional overwhelm
▪︎ Relationship struggles and disconnection
▪︎ Creative blocks and spiritual longing
▪︎ LGBTQ+ identity and self-expression
▪︎ A search for meaning and personal truth
Deep within, we often already carry the wisdom we need. My role is to listen carefully, reflect that inner wisdom back to you, and help translate it into practical, empowering steps forward. Together, we can clarify the path that leads you toward becoming more fully and authentically yourself.