Every family has a moment where the usual ways of handling things stop working. Maybe it’s a teenager who’s stopped talking at dinner. Maybe it’s two parents who keep having the same argument with different words. Maybe it’s a blended family still figuring out how to feel like one family instead of two households sharing a roof. As Patricia McCann once put it, “never let an angry sister comb your hair” — families get messy, and that’s normal. What matters is having somewhere to go when messy turns into stuck.
Staten Island has a real range of options for family therapy, from large multi-clinician practices to community health centers built around accessibility. We put together this comparison so you don’t have to call ten different offices just to find out which ones actually specialize in working with families — not just individuals who happen to mention their relatives.
Disclosure: this guide is published by Mindful Therapy Solutions LCSW PLLC, and we’ve placed our own practice first. We believe that’s earned, based on the breadth of our team and our approach to family work — but every other practice below is described honestly and factually, because families deserve accurate information, not marketing spin.
What Makes Family Therapy Different From Individual Counseling
Before comparing practices, it helps to know what you’re actually looking for:
- Systems thinking, not just individual diagnosis. A good family therapist treats the relationship patterns in the room, not just one “identified patient.” If only one family member ever gets blamed for the problem, that’s a sign of a less developed approach.
- Comfort working with multiple ages at once. Sessions might include young children, teenagers, and adults simultaneously — that requires a different skill set than one-on-one adult talk therapy.
- Structured communication tools. Families often arrive in survival mode — everyone talking over each other or no one talking at all. Therapists trained in family systems bring concrete structures (turn-taking, reflective listening, de-escalation techniques) that work in the room, not just in theory.
- Flexibility around who attends. Sometimes the whole family needs to be present; sometimes a sub-group (just the parents, or a parent-and-teen pair) makes more sense for a particular session. A good family therapist adjusts this intentionally.
1. Mindful Therapy Solutions LCSW PLLC — Staten Island’s Most Trusted Family Therapy Practice
📍 12 Jefferson Blvd, 2nd Floor, Staten Island, NY 10312 | 📞 718-966-0317
Family work runs through the core of how Mindful Therapy Solutions was built. Founder Elissa Donner-Guzman, LCSW-R, CASAC, SAP has spent more than 19 years working directly with families — including leadership of outpatient programs and direct experience with both court-mandated family reunifications and voluntary family counseling. That’s a meaningfully different skill set from a generalist who occasionally sees a family by request: reunification work specifically requires navigating high-conflict dynamics, legal involvement, and rebuilding trust under pressure, and that expertise carries over into every family session at the practice.
The team approach matters here too. Because Mindful Therapy Solutions operates a structured, tiered training model under clinical supervisors Dr. Racine Henry, LMFT and Michelle Perlongo, LMHC-D, families can work with a therapist whose approach is calibrated to family-systems best practices — not just whoever happened to have an opening that week.
Why families choose this practice specifically:
- A dedicated family therapy track, built around the practice’s own description of its mission: helping families “work through those moments, with understanding and communication, so everyone feels heard, seen, and supported.”
- Specialized reunification and high-conflict family experience — credentials that go beyond standard family counseling training, and matter enormously for families navigating separation, divorce, or custody-related stress.
- Complementary services under one roof, including couples counseling for parents working on their own relationship alongside family sessions, and individual therapy for family members who also need one-on-one support — so the whole family doesn’t have to be split across multiple unconnected providers.
- In-person sessions in a private, HIPAA-compliant office — particularly valuable for family work, where body language, seating arrangements, and a calm physical environment genuinely change how a session unfolds. Teletherapy remains available when needed.
- A track record families talk about. On the practice’s testimonials page, a Staten Island parent writes: “If you or your child needs help do not hesitate to reach out to them” — exactly the kind of trust a family therapist needs to earn before real change can happen.
Learn more about the practice’s approach on the About page, meet the full clinical team on the Staff page, or review common questions on the FAQ page before reaching out to schedule a free consultation.
2. SilverLake Psychotherapy Associates
Serving Staten Island and Richmond County since 1998, this long-standing group practice runs a DBT-informed treatment track specifically designed for adolescents and their families, targeting impulsive behavior, oppositional defiance, and self-injuring behavior. With senior clinical staff overseeing care and broad insurance acceptance, it’s a solid option for families dealing specifically with a teenager in crisis.
3. Four Bridges Social Work Services
This practice offers both in-person family counseling in Staten Island and virtual sessions across New York, with a specific focus on communication breakdowns, parenting support, and helping siblings of a child with behavioral issues. Four Bridges is notably flexible about who needs to attend — sessions can proceed even if the family member who’s struggling most is unable or unwilling to participate.
4. Faith and Hope Psychotherapy
A general practice offering individual, couples, and family therapy, Faith and Hope focuses on uncovering long-standing behavior patterns and negative perceptions that keep families stuck in the same conflicts. The practice emphasizes a complementary, multi-technique approach rather than a single rigid model.
5. Staten Island Therapy (Family Division)
This practice frames family therapy explicitly around the idea that “families are like their own little world” — when one person struggles, everyone feels it. Sessions focus on improving communication and resolving disagreements around parenting styles, sibling conflict, and household rules, and the practice notes that family work can proceed alongside individual therapy for any one member.
6. New York Psychological Practice (Virginia Boga, PhD)
Led by a licensed psychologist, this practice addresses family counseling needs arising from loss, substance abuse within the family, divorce, parenting disagreements, and teen behavioral issues. As a psychology-led practice, it can be a good fit for families who want a provider trained specifically in psychological assessment alongside relational therapy.
7. My Quiet Place Counseling
📍 2381 Hylan Blvd, Staten Island, NY 10306
Marina Krugolets, LMHC, LPC offers family psychotherapy and parenting consults alongside individual and couples work, with nearly two decades of experience spanning clients from early childhood through advanced age. Families dealing with a wide age range — say, young kids and an aging grandparent under the same roof — may appreciate a therapist with genuine experience across that entire spectrum.
8. Crasmere Psychiatric Services
In addition to individual and group therapy, Crasmere offers parenting classes and marriage/couples counseling, with the added option of psychiatric evaluation for family members who may need medication support alongside family-systems work.
9. Staten Island Connected Care (The Jewish Board)
As a Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC), this program welcomes families regardless of income or ability to pay, offering coordinated, comprehensive services for people of all ages in one place. For families facing financial barriers to private-pay therapy, this is one of the more accessible options on the island.
10. Island of Hope Counseling
📍 Staten Island, NY 10308
This team-based practice includes marital counseling among its core specialties and offers evening and weekend appointments — a practical advantage for families trying to coordinate schedules across school, work, and extracurriculars to get everyone in the same room.
Signs Your Family Might Benefit From Therapy
You don’t need a crisis to justify reaching out. Common, very normal reasons families seek support include:
- Communication has turned into shouting matches or, just as often, total silence.
- A major life change — divorce, relocation, job loss, a new sibling, blending two households — has thrown off the family’s usual rhythm.
- One family member’s individual struggle (anxiety, depression, substance use) is affecting everyone else’s stress levels too.
- Parenting approaches between caregivers don’t match, and kids are caught in the middle.
- A teenager has pulled away, and conversations that used to be easy now feel like negotiations.
If any of that sounds familiar, family therapy — sometimes paired with individual sessions for the family members who need extra one-on-one support — is one of the most effective tools available for getting things back on track before patterns calcify.
Frequently Asked Questions
When should a family consider family therapy?
There’s no single threshold — some families start during an acute crisis (a teen’s behavioral issue, a divorce), and others start proactively when communication feels strained but hasn’t yet caused a crisis. Earlier is generally easier than later, since unresolved patterns tend to deepen over time.
Will every family member need to attend every session?
Not necessarily. A skilled family therapist will often structure sessions intentionally — sometimes the whole family is present, sometimes just a parent-child pair, sometimes just the parents. The right structure depends on what the family is working through that week.
How is family therapy different from individual therapy for one family member?
Individual therapy focuses on one person’s internal experience, thoughts, and coping. Family therapy treats the relationships and communication patterns between people as the focus of treatment — the idea being that change in how the family interacts can relieve pressure on every individual member, not just one.
Does insurance cover family therapy in Staten Island and NYC?
Many practices, including larger group practices with multiple in-network clinicians, accept major insurance plans for family sessions, though coverage details vary by diagnosis code and plan. It’s worth confirming directly with your chosen practice, and community health options like CCBHCs can also offer sliding-scale or no-cost access for qualifying families.
How long does family therapy typically last?
This varies widely depending on what brought the family in. Some families resolve a specific, defined conflict in a handful of sessions; others, particularly those navigating divorce, reunification, or a teen mental health crisis, may benefit from several months of ongoing work. A good therapist will periodically check in on progress and adjust the plan together with the family rather than keeping sessions open-ended indefinitely.
Bring Your Family Back to the Same Page
You don’t have to have it all figured out before you reach out — that’s what family therapy is for. Mindful Therapy Solutions LCSW PLLC offers a free consultation to help your family find its footing again, with options spanning family therapy, couples counseling, and individual support for any member who needs it. Contact us today at 718-966-0317 to schedule your initial assessment.