_edited.png)
What is Family Therapy?
Family therapy is a form of psychotherapy that focuses on how a family functions as a system.
Rather than working with one individual alone, family therapy attends to how roles, expectations, communication patterns, and decision-making structures develop within the family over time; often shaped by life stage, stress, and intergenerational dynamics.
Sessions provide a structured, confidential space for family members to understand what is happening beneath repeated conflicts or misunderstandings, and to practice new ways of relating that support both individual well-being and the health of the family as a whole.
Depending on the situation, sessions may include the full family or specific subsystems, such as parents, caregivers, or a parent and child.
When Family Patterns Take Over
Many families seek therapy not because they lack care or effort, but because familiar patterns begin to run the household.
You may notice:
-
Repeated power struggles or conflicts that escalate quickly
-
One member carrying disproportionate responsibility or emotional burden
-
Parents feeling misaligned or stuck in reactive cycles
-
Children expressing distress through behavior, withdrawal, or shutdown
-
Tension around transitions such as divorce, blending families, or developmental changes
These patterns are often not intentional. They emerge as families adapt to stress, change, and unmet needs; and once established, they can be difficult to shift without slowing the system down.
Family therapy creates space to observe these dynamics as they unfold, making room for new choices rather than automatic reactions.
How This Shapes Our Work
In family sessions, we pay attention not only to what each person says, but to how the family system organizes itself in real time; through roles, alliances, emotional responses, and patterns of interaction.
Our work supports families in:
-
Making implicit roles and expectations visible
-
Reducing blame by shifting focus from individuals to patterns
-
Supporting emotional regulation across generations
-
Practicing new ways of responding that feel more sustainable
Alongside conversation and reflection, sessions may include gentle, guided experiential exercises that help families experience shifts in awareness and interaction, rather than relying on insight alone.
This approach allows change to emerge at a pace that feels collaborative, grounded, and developmentally appropriate.
Common Focus Areas in Family Therapy
Families come to therapy for many reasons. Common areas of focus include:
-
Family roles and boundaries
Clarifying responsibilities, authority, and expectations across the family system. -
Parent–child and parenting dynamics
Aligning caregiving approaches, reducing power struggles, and supporting children’s emotional and developmental needs. -
Transitions and structural changes
Navigating divorce, blending families, relocation, illness, loss, or shifts in family composition. -
Intergenerational patterns
Observing what has been passed down across generations and practicing healthier defaults. -
Communication and conflict repair
Slowing escalation, strengthening repair after rupture, and supporting clearer expression during emotionally charged moments. -
Cultural and contextual factors
Honoring differences in values, language, identity, and traditions within the family.
Our Clinical Approach
Our work with families is grounded in a strength-based structural family therapy model, informed by systemic thinking and experiential integration.
We focus on how family structures, roles, and boundaries shape everyday interactions—especially during periods of stress, transition, or conflict. Rather than pathologizing family members, we attend to existing strengths and adaptive patterns while supporting the family in reorganizing what no longer serves them.
This work often includes:
-
Clarifying family roles and authority structures
-
Supporting healthier boundaries across subsystems
-
Strengthening parental alignment and leadership
-
Making interactional patterns visible as they occur
Alongside structural work, we integrate emotion-focused and experiential techniques to support emotional awareness, regulation, and real-time practice within the session.
Our approach is collaborative, trauma-responsive, and culturally attuned; guided by clinical judgment and the developmental needs of each family.
What to Expect at Roiya
-
Initial consultation: A 15–30 minute conversation to review concerns, goals, and who should attend.
-
Intake and mapping: We gather each person’s perspective, identify strengths and stuck points, and outline shared focus areas. Some situations benefit from one or two follow-up intake sessions.
-
Plan of care: We collaborate on focus areas, session structure, and simple markers of progress.
-
Session format and cadence: Sessions are typically 60 or 90 minutes, scheduled weekly or biweekly based on need.
-
Who attends: Depending on the situation, sessions may involve the full family or specific subsystems, guided by clinical judgment.
-
Between-session awareness: Families may be invited to notice patterns or try small experiments at home, such as check-ins, new routines, or repair steps.
Sessions are available in person in Sunnyvale or online using a private, HIPAA-compliant platform.
Session Fee Structure
Roiya believes transparency is part of trauma-responsive care.
Our standard fees for family therapy are $160–$240 for 60 minutes and $240–$360 for 90 minutes.
We accept selected insurance plans in California and can verify benefits upon request.
If we are out of network, we can submit claims on your behalf, and many PPO plans reimburse.
Limited sliding-scale spots may be available.
See full fee details.
Questions about Cost or Coverage?
