Spencer Potesta

Psychotherapist, Company Builder, Author | Founder of Potesta Holdings Corporation & Social Capital Foundation

My background is in clinical and organizational psychology, dedicating time to psychotherapy for patients with severe anxiety and trauma disorders, while building and partnering with organizations in organizational psychology. The tools I use in therapy mirror those that help executives and organizations excel.

In psychotherapy, I run a private practice as a double-board certified psychotherapist in Illinois, offering specialized, evidence-based care for severe anxiety (like OCD) and trauma disorders (including dissociation). I dedicate a select few days per week to this transformative, client-centered work.

As CEO of Midsommer.org, I address clinical pain points—like limited access, high costs, and fragmentation—leading a pioneering mental health organization. We build a clinician-led holistic care model, revolutionizing psychotherapy with self-managing teams, comprehensive services, and ethical, insurance-based practices for affordability across states and specialties. We empower ethical clinicians to own teams as directors and co-owners (typically 10-12 grouped by region/specialty), creating sustainable foundations, better business outcomes, higher clinician satisfaction through collaboration, and dedicated client care. Achieved via aligned incentives and lock-step partnerships—not franchising—this forms a constellation of high-powered, human-centered teams. This bridges my passions of organizational psychology & psychotherapy, empowering resilience and impact for clinicians and clients.

In organizational psychology, I operate Social Capital Holdings, consulting Fortune 500/1000 firms on efficiency and performance. Now, I focus on engaged partnerships in businesses like Midsommer and others, strengthening systems, leadership, and operations.

While devoting time to psychotherapy a few days weekly and advancing ventures, my deepest passion is Social Capital Foundation. As President of this 501(c)(3) healthcare endowment, I tackle generational health needs, leveraging my success to innovate solutions benefiting practitioners and clients. We streamline operations to keep 100% of donations intact, supporting healthcare individuals and organizations.

Founder & Principal

Focused on scaling and rebuilding organizations

Service Lines:
-Organizational Consulting (Organizational Effectiveness & Development)
-Advising for startup organizations
-Turning around failing or distressed businesses
-Support Midsized to Largesized organizations becoming more effective and performative 
-Executive Coaching

*Coming 2023 the PPC Leader Academy focusing on providing straightforward ways for high performing leaders to increase performance and effectiveness. Academy is based on Psychotherapy & Organizational Psychology principles to help leaders break through internal and external barriers of success.

Spencer R. Potesta

Community Reach Center

•Delivering 3rd highest billable encounters for FY 2025 out of 34 outpatient therapists

•Employing MI, CBT, ACT, IFS, and other evidence-based modalities to fulfill personalized treatment plans for clients aged 10 - 70+ with mild to severe and persistent mental illness

•Sustaining “Work From Home” perk by exceeding KPIs including managing caseload of 65 - 100 clients with timely documentation and 100% audit results from Quality Insurance

•Managing comprehensive client care including intake assessments, diagnosing, treatment planning, AMSR and ASAM assessments, level of care evaluations, and referrals

•Conducting risk assessments and trauma-informed crisis interventions with high acuity clients and supports.

•Creating and facilitating adult and adolescent Mindfulness fusion groups, co-facilitated Mindfulness module in fidelity DBT group

•Enhancing team efficiency by developing supportive streamlined workflow processes and practical tools

Outpatient Therapist

H&R Block

Managed office staffing, operations, and logistics for 3 tax offices, including: 

•Partnering with the District General Manager to strategize and implement office-centric growth objectives

•Coaching and cultivating engaging team environments

•Practicing conflict resolution and addressing performance concerns

•Responding to escalated clients 

•Leading data-informed, goal-driven meetings with Associate Team Leaders

•Ensuring Standard Operating Procedures compliance

•Managing labor and validating timesheets

•Assisting in post-season office consolidation process

Multi-Unit Team Leader

Supported the Multi-Unit Team Leader as onsite associate manager for singular tax office,
including:

•Ensuring quality and consistency in executing standard operating procedures

•Data tracking

•De-escalating and addressing client concerns

•Overseeing tax professional schedules and tracking client return progress

•Providing front-line excellent customer service

Associate Team Leader

Moving To End Sexual Assault

•Re/developed and facilitated 81 interactive trainings to students aged 13-18 on boundaries, consent, sexual violence dynamics, supporting a friend, healthy masculinity, rape culture, and bystander intervention.

•Served as point person in scheduling trainings to 1,985 Boulder Valley School District students across 10 schools, including intricate record-keeping and coordination between district administration, school staff, volunteers, and community partners.

•Generated engaging, factually accurate, and accessible collateral and educational materials on sexual violence prevention for schools, parents, and students.

• Processed PayPal donations and generated end of month reports; assisted in program budgeting.

• Updated website and created engaging marketing materials utilizing Canva and Constant Contact including: social media posts, op-eds, flyers and e-correspondences.

• Provided accurate, culturally competent, and trauma-informed responses to anonymous student questions regarding: family and dating abuse, reporting options, sexuality, impacts of trauma, and coping strategies.

• Facilitated Safe Bars active bystander intervention training for hospitality staff in Boulder County.

• Assisted in the development of new restorative options for survivors seeking to engage loved ones who caused harm following a disclosure.

Sexual Violence Prevention Educator

Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault

Delivered "Supporting Survivors with Disabilities" two-hour interactive training module for the Sexual Assault Advocate Training Institute for advocates seeking state certification hours to qualify for privileged communications under C.R.S. 13-90-107 two years in a row.

Training Consultant

Esters Neighborhood Pub

Server

Sunbelt Staffing

Temporary school social worker contracted to cover 8 weeks of maternity leave at Aurora West College Preparatory Academy and North Middle School providing mental health services for students with individualized education plans through weekly and bi-weekly group and individual meetings.

•Provided mental health services and social-emotional skill-building for students with IEPs.

•Received training in LivingWorks Suicide Risk Assessment and Threat Assessment.

•Accurately maintained confidential and legal records including documenting services and progress reports in Infinite Campus and Enrich databases.

School Social Worker

Assisted the Policy Director in garnering support for the Coalition's policy agenda to improve the response to and prevention of sexual violence in the state.

•Facilitated an extensive and engaged stakeholder process by contacting a variety of community members via phone and email to inform, provide opportunity to input, answer technical questions, and ultimately, garner support for the coalition’s policy agenda.

•Assisted the Director of Policy with policy analysis, bill tracking, and stakeholder management during legislative hearings.

•Transformed the functionality of the coalition’s membership database so that the platform could be used to support legislative advocacy efforts, including but not limited to: updating member profiles with the contact information of their elected officials by creating new fields within the database; and enhancing the ability to seamlessly access member profiles for targeted action alerts to support policy campaigns.

•Served as staff liaison to the CCASA Policy Committee and Student Network. 

•Gathered relevant information to analyze policy concepts, draft high-level policy briefs and internal documents, and provide logistical support to survivors of sexual violence engaged in legislative advocacy initiatives. 

•Conducted a comprehensive comparative analysis of 3 distinct tribal restorative justice techniques and high-risk victim-offender dialogue for DV/SA and provided recommendations to the Rural and Indigenous Communities Specialist for Ute Mountain Ute tribal code development.

•Attended trainings, conferences, and summits regarding campus sexual misconduct policy and legislation, restorative justice initiatives for DV/SA, advocacy skills training, and anti-oppression.

•Assisted Programs Department in curriculum development, training facilitation, and program evaluation.

Graduate Policy Intern

University of Denver: Graduate School of Social Work

Research team exploring trans and nonbinary health literacy across the Front Range to inform state healthcare reform legislation to improve access and health outcomes for trans and nonbinary folks in Colorado.

•Served as liaison to community contacts and study participants across Colorado.

•Managed logistical coordination including scheduling and booking.

•Conducted extensive academic literature searches on topics related to trans* and nonbinary health literacy and HIV/AIDS.

•Transcribed six focus group proceedings and coded qualitative data for themes.

•Assisted in designing online Trans Health Survey.

Graduate Research Assistant (Trans and Nonbinary Health Literacy) 

The Conflict Center

Data-driven social norming initiative to foster healthy teen dating relationships at High Tech Early College and CEC Early College high schools utilizing positive youth development and violence prevention best practices.

•Engaged in extensive freethinking sessions and partnered with community organizations, data specialists, and researchers to develop a new Teen Dating Relationship Survey in SurveyMonkey with increased validity, reliability, and cultural relevancy.

•Analyzed Survey data for gaps in perception at 2 local high schools, informing 12 social norming poster campaigns to decrease the gap and increase protective factors.

•Coded 300 survey responses for 5 qualitative questions to inform school safety assessment report "Hot Spot Mapping" and presented report findings to school administrators with recommendations for increased safety.

•Practiced positive youth development with high school interns on campaign messaging, design, and program evaluation.

•Conducted extensive literature searches on teen dating violence perpetration, victimization, and risk and protective factors.

•Designed campaign materials utilizing Canva.

•Tracked and reported community contacts to ensure grant compliance.

•Attended professional development trainings including: addressing conflict and anger effectively, positive youth development, restorative practices.

•Led a supervision meeting on bisexuality+ to increase queer inclusion among staff.

Graduate Social Norming Intern 

Baldwin Wallace University

Provided trauma-informed training to Title IX investigators and compiled peer-based literature from Division III colleges and universities to assist in the development of Baldwin Wallace sexual misconduct prevention and response policies in compliance with state and federal requirements under the Office of Diversity Initiatives.

•Attended conferences for Title IX, neurobiology of trauma, student movements, and anti-oppression.

•Researched gender-based violence policies and literature from Division III institutions for peer-guidance and compiled policy and procedural recommendations.

•Assisted in planning and facilitating trauma-informed Title IX Investigator training with Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.

•Delivered presentations and engaged in community-wide discussions.

•Assisted with the Culture and Climate Initiative related to campus sexual misconduct.

Sexual Misconduct Prevention and Response Intern

The heart of my practice is community collaboration that centers the voices of those most impacted at the intersections of multiple identities. As a lifelong learner, mental health provider, and dedicated sexual violence prevention professional, my passion for supporting clients and survivors is rooted in the values of interconnectedness, integrity, and collective liberation. To usher in a world free from violence, I believe we must critically examine the root causes and replication of oppression and cultivate communities of care, pleasure, and accountability across levels.

Skills and Experience:
• LCSW providing evidence-based individual therapy to clients across the lifespan (ages 10+) with symptoms ranging from mild to severe and persistent mental illness utilizing ACT, CBT, DBT, IFS and more.

• Effectively manage high-volume caseloads of 65-100+ clients while maintaining timely documentation.

•Experienced in completing comprehensive biopsychosocial assessments, treatment planning, risk assessments and crisis evaluations, and more.

•Extensive experience working with marginalized communities utilizing restorative, culturally-responsive, anti-oppressive and trauma-informed approaches.

•6+ years of experience developing and implementing community, K-12, and campus-based training programs online and in-person related to advocacy, gender and sexuality, and gender-based violence prevention and response.

•Excellent verbal, written, and communication skills with a passion for facilitating engaging trainings, dialogues, and educational programs to diverse stakeholders.

•Talent for creating thorough, streamlined organization systems that bolster impact and efficiency with 10+ years of administrative management experience including exceptional Microsoft Office, G-suite, Canva, EHR and CRM skills.

•Highly collaborative and able to work independently with multiple projects, deadlines, and priorities in a high stress environment while practicing conflict transformation.

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The Battle

Spencer R. Potesta

Alex Potesta, LCSW

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