Meet the Denneys: Marriage and Family Therapists in San Clemente
Denney Family Therapy
Denney Family Therapy is led by Ryan Denney, AMFT, and Jennie Denney, AMFT, two Associate Marriage and Family Therapists based in San Clemente, California.
Built from lived experience, systems thinking, and a belief that healing happens in relationship.
Denney Family Therapy is based in San Clemente, California, offering in-person therapy across South Orange County and telehealth throughout California.
We offer therapy for individuals, couples, parents, families, teens, and adults navigating anxiety, trauma, relationship stress, parenting challenges, faith deconstruction, self-harm recovery, and major life transitions.
Our approach is grounded, thoughtful, and collaborative. Whether you come to us individually, as a couple, or as a family, our goal is to help you slow down, understand what is happening beneath the surface, and move forward with more clarity, connection, and steadiness.
Who We Work With
At Denney Family Therapy, we work with teens, adults, couples, parents, and families navigating seasons of change, stress, healing, and growth.
We often support clients who are experiencing:
Anxiety, overwhelm, and burnout
Trauma and difficult life experiences
Relationship conflict and communication challenges
Parenting stress and family transitions
Self-harm recovery and emotional regulation concerns
Faith deconstruction, religious trauma, and identity shifts
Grief, loss, and major life transitions
Men's mental health and questions of purpose, identity, and direction
Whether you're seeking support as an individual, couple, parent, or family, our goal is to provide a thoughtful, collaborative space where you can better understand what is happening beneath the surface and move forward with greater clarity, connection, and steadiness.
Our Story
Our life together has included seasons of stability, seasons of uncertainty, and seasons that asked us to rethink what mattered most. Over time, we learned that belonging isn't something we find through certainty or achievement. It grows through connection, shared experience, and relationships that can adapt through change.
There was a period when Ryan’s work required extensive travel. While it provided for our family, it also created long stretches apart and a version of stability that felt increasingly disconnected from the life we wanted to live together.
Between 2016 and 2018, our family chose something different. We lived more nomadically, traveling across Europe, the UK, and India so we could remain together rather than apart. Our four children learned alongside us during what we jokingly called the Denney School of World Travel.
That season was an intentional response to a life that no longer fit.
What we carried forward continues to shape our work today.
Belonging does not come from geography, routine, or certainty.
It comes from relationship.
Two Paths Toward the Same Work
Our paths into therapy came through different doors, but they led us toward the same work: helping people understand what is happening beneath the surface and move toward greater connection.
Jennie's path into therapy grew out of parenting and firsthand experience with the complexity of mental health struggles within a family system. Walking alongside a child in distress reshaped how she understood fear, behavior, resilience, and connection. It also revealed how often pain is misunderstood and how much healing can happen when people feel truly seen, supported, and met with care.
Her own experiences with change, identity, and rebuilding meaning deepened her interest in the ways people navigate faith transitions, religious trauma, grief, and major life shifts. Today, she works with teens, adults, parents, and couples seeking to understand themselves more fully and build lives that feel more connected, intentional, and authentic.
Ryan’s path began in software consulting and business leadership. Over time, he noticed that the hardest challenges were rarely only technical. They were relational. His work with teams, systems, conflict, and change eventually led him toward therapy, where he brings a steady, thoughtful presence to men, couples, families, and people navigating identity, purpose, anger, grief, and transition.
Ryan is especially drawn to helping clients slow down, sort through what feels tangled, and find a more honest way forward. His work often centers on men’s mental health, couples and family relationships, anger, grief, identity, and the quiet pressure many people carry when they feel responsible for holding everything together.
Different paths. Shared values.
We both believe therapy is not about quick fixes or surface-level solutions. It is about slowing down enough to understand patterns, strengthen relationships, and create meaningful change that can hold up in real life.
If You’re Considering Therapy
If you're looking for therapists in San Clemente who value curiosity, collaboration, and real-world support, we'd be honored to meet you.
Learn more about our individual work:
Or schedule a complimentary consultation to see if one of us might be a good fit for your goals and needs.