In the 2023 community health survey for Hendry and Glades counties, mental health care for children ranked 2nd among the hardest services to get, behind care for adults. FC PsychExperts sees Clewiston families by secure video, in sessions of 50 to 80 minutes, and co-parents who live apart can join from separate screens. This page covers what the listings leave out: the language gap, the help that runs through the schools, and what stays private when a family is in therapy together.
Quick answer: FC PsychExperts provides family therapy to Clewiston families by secure video, available anywhere in Florida, and in person at its Jupiter office, about 75 road miles from Clewiston. Family sessions run 50 to 80 minutes, and co-parents who live apart can each join from their own screen. Family therapy is led by Jessica T. Aloise, LCSW, under the clinical oversight of Dr. Cathy Colet, Psy.D., Florida license PY9058. In a crisis, call or text 988, or call the mobile response team that covers Hendry County at (844) 395-4432. To book, call (561) 870-0411.
In the resident survey behind the Florida Department of Health’s 2023-2026 community health plan for Hendry and Glades counties, the 2 hardest services to get were mental and behavioral health care for adults, with 167 responses, and for children, with 160.
The plan’s own summary is short: for mental health services, people have to go out of the county, and there are no day treatment centers. It named mental well-being and child safety and health as its 2 priorities, and it describes the area as a designated shortage area for mental health services.
The headcount explains why. In fiscal year 2023-24, Hendry County had 14 actively licensed mental health counselors, clinical social workers and marriage and family therapists, the Department of Health reports. That’s 33.9 per 100,000 residents. Florida’s rate was 142.7. Statewide, the University of South Florida’s workforce dashboard counts a shortage of more than 1,000 licensed marriage and family therapists.
Sources: Florida Department of Health in Hendry and Glades Counties, 2023-2026 Community Health Improvement Plan · Florida Department of Health, FLHealthCHARTS, Behavioral/Mental Health Professionals, FY 2023-24 · USF Florida Center for Behavioral Health Workforce dashboard, as reported by WUSF on 21 October 2025. The state count excludes psychologists and psychiatrists.
On 20 October 2026, a national therapist directory’s Hendry County family therapy page gave a count of 17 and filled its first page with 20 profiles. 12 were online only. 4 said they serve the area without showing an office, and 2 had offices outside the county. 2 had an office in the county: 1 in Clewiston and 1 in LaBelle.
2 of those 20 listed Spanish, and both were online only. In Clewiston, that gap matters: 50.9% of residents are Hispanic or Latino, 25.8% are foreign-born, and 42.4% of residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home, according to the Census Bureau.
A family session only works if everyone in it can follow it. Raise language on the first call with any practice, this one included, before anything is booked. 2-1-1 answers in English and Spanish and can point you to other options.
| Ask the listing | Why it matters for a family |
|---|---|
| Which state licensed you? | Florida needs a Florida license, or a Florida telehealth registration for an out-of-state clinician (Fla. Stat. 456.47). Federal telehealth guidance says the clinician must be licensed or legally permitted to practice where the client is, so every family member should join from Florida |
| Is there an office, and where? | Of the first 20 Hendry County listings, 2 showed an office in the county. If anyone in the family needs to be in the room, get the street address |
| Which language will sessions run in? | Every person in a family session has to be able to follow it, and 42.4% of Clewiston residents 5 and older speak a language other than English at home |
| Can 2 homes join 1 session? | Co-parents who live apart need each parent on their own screen. Confirm it before you book |
| What’s your license number? | Look it up on the Florida Department of Health’s license verification portal before session 1 |
Sources: directory counts checked 20 October 2026 · U.S. Census Bureau, QuickFacts, Clewiston city, 2020-2024 American Community Survey · Fla. Stat. 456.47 · U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, licensure for behavioral health telehealth, April 2025.
Who needs to be there, where they live and what else is going on decide how family therapy should start. Answer 3 questions for a starting point.
Nothing is stored or sent. For 2 of the 4 answers to question 3, the result is a number that isn’t ours.
Sources: Fla. Stat. 39.201 and 456.47 · Florida Department of Children and Families, Florida Abuse Hotline · the practice’s therapy pages, checked 20 October 2026.
Co-parents who live apart don’t need to share a room or a screen. Co-parent sessions here run with each parent on their own screen, from 2 locations, and Florida holds therapy by video to the same standard of care as therapy in an office (Fla. Stat. 456.47).
Some court orders require in-person attendance, and the office checks yours before the first session. If the 2 of you only need a working plan for schedules and communication, co-parenting therapy is its own service.
What you say in family therapy is confidential under Florida law. When more than 1 person in a family is in therapy, the privilege can’t be waived on 1 person’s say-so: each family member has to agree in writing (Fla. Stat. 491.0147).
That statute covers clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors. 4 situations change what’s shared.
| Situation | What happens | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| A child may be being abused | Anyone who knows or suspects it must report it to the Florida Abuse Hotline, 1-800-962-2873, which takes reports 24 hours a day. That includes therapists | Fla. Stat. 39.201 |
| Someone makes a specific threat of serious harm | If the therapist judges that the person intends to act and could act soon, the therapist may warn the person threatened and must tell law enforcement | Fla. Stat. 491.0147 |
| A court order requires reports | Court-ordered cases may require specific reports to the court. Your clinician explains what’s shared before you begin | Your court order |
| A teen or a parent talks alone | What’s said in one-on-one time follows a confidentiality agreement set at intake, so nobody is surprised later | Practice policy |
This is general information and isn’t legal advice. Ask your attorney how it applies to your family. Sources: Fla. Stat. 491.0147, 39.201, 61.13, 1014.06 and 394.4784 · Florida Department of Children and Families, Florida Abuse Hotline · the practice’s family therapy page.
Hendry County family cases are heard in Florida’s 20th Judicial Circuit, at the courthouse in LaBelle. The practice’s psychologists are court-qualified expert witnesses in that circuit, so mention any case on the first call.
The practice keeps treatment and evaluation apart. When a family it has been treating later needs a forensic opinion, the evaluation goes to someone else, every time. If you call about an evaluation, the office talks through the scope first and tells you whether it can give an objective one or has to decline. Court-referred and reunification cases involve Dr. Colet directly, and some orders require in-person attendance, which the office checks before the first session.
Each one stays within the limits of confidentiality your clinician explains at intake. If the order names therapy for 1 person, court-ordered therapy is a separate service.
A treating clinician works for the family’s progress. A forensic evaluator works for the question in the court order and owes that question objectivity. The practice’s guide, Can A Court Order Therapy In Florida?, reviewed by Dr. Colet, puts it plainly: 1 person can’t hold both jobs without damaging both.
Forensic psychology’s own guidelines agree. Serving as therapist and evaluator for the same person or closely related people can impair objectivity, and the guidelines encourage a referral to another provider (Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology, guideline 4.02.01).
Sources: Fla. Stat. 26.021 · Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology · the practice’s family therapy page, therapy services page and court-order guide, checked 20 October 2026.
Some help for a Clewiston family starts at school or on the phone. None of these 4 routes waits on a therapist’s opening.
Hendry County School District lists 6 mental health specialists, led by a licensed clinical social worker. The team’s stated job is to identify and treat K-12 students with mental health needs, family stressors included, and to help students, parents and teachers find supports. Ask your child’s school how to reach the team.
In 2026 the district began piloting a grant-funded texting service that connects middle and high school students with live coaches, supervised by mental health counselors. It runs from 6 AM to 1 AM, weekends and school breaks included. It’s coaching, so it can sit alongside family therapy without replacing it.
2-1-1 answers around the clock in English and Spanish. If the short code won’t connect from your phone, dial (239) 433-3900. Ask it for family programs in Hendry County, including ones for families without insurance.
The mobile response team that covers Hendry County answers 24 hours a day at (844) 395-4432. It serves all ages and can come to you anywhere in the county to assess a child or an adult in crisis. Crisis help from the team costs nothing.
Sources: Hendry County School District, Mental Health Specialists page · reporting on the district’s texting service, December 2025 and 2026 · 2-1-1 for Lee, Hendry and Glades counties · Florida Department of Children and Families, mobile response teams. Programs change. Check with 2-1-1 the week you call.
6 situations call for a different first step. Raise any of them on the first call, and the office will match you to the right service and clinician before family sessions are booked.
Scheduled family sessions can’t respond to an emergency. Call or text 988, call the mobile response team at (844) 395-4432, or call 911 if anyone is in danger.
Safety comes before a family session. Call 911 in an emergency. If a child is being hurt, report it to the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-962-2873.
Family therapy won’t produce one. A custody evaluation isn’t a therapy process at all, and when a family the practice has been treating needs one, the evaluation goes to someone else.
Family therapy won’t produce the testing a school asks for. If the question is learning, attention or accommodations at school, psychoeducational testing is the service that answers it, and the practice offers it for children and teens.
Sometimes 1 family member’s struggle drives the household pattern. Individual therapy for that person can start first, and family sessions can follow.
Weekly in-person sessions in Clewiston aren’t possible from an office about 75 miles away. 2-1-1 can point you to practices in the county that see families in person.
The first family session runs up to 80 minutes, on the same plan the practice uses for family therapy across Palm Beach County. Its job is to map the pattern between people, and nobody gets cast as the problem.
Focused goals such as a specific conflict or a transition often improve in 8 to 12 sessions. Reunification and high-conflict co-parenting cases take longer and follow a staged plan. Progress is reviewed with the family at set points, against goals written in the family’s own words.
Family therapy at FC PsychExperts is led by a licensed clinical social worker and runs under the clinical oversight of the practice’s founder, a licensed clinical and forensic psychologist. Both are named below, with credentials you can check before the first call.
Jessica leads the practice’s family, co-parenting, couples and individual therapy, with more than 20 years of work with individuals, couples and families. Her family work centers on communication, regulation and repair, and her approach is relational, integrative and strengths-based.
Focus areas: emotional healing · relationships · communication · regulation · recovery · personal growth
Dr. Colet founded Forensic and Clinical PsychExperts, LLC, which has served Florida courts since 2008. Therapy here runs under her clinical oversight, and she oversees court-referred therapy, reunification and co-parenting cases and the documentation courts require. Her caseload includes evaluations and expert testimony in Florida family courts.
Member of: American Psychological Association · Association of Family and Conciliation Courts
Families join by secure video from anywhere in Florida. These towns sit around Clewiston and along the lake’s south and west shore.
No. Clewiston families meet by secure video, available anywhere in Florida. In-person sessions are at the Jupiter office, 210 Jupiter Lakes Blvd Bldg 4000, Unit 201, Jupiter, FL 33458, about 75 road miles away.
Yes. Co-parent sessions here run with each parent on their own screen, from 2 locations, with the same clinician and the same session length as in the office. Each parent needs to be in Florida during the session.
It depends on the goal. Some sessions include the whole household; others are a parent and 1 child, or 2 co-parents without the children. The clinician plans it with you in the first session, and the mix can change.
Family sessions run 50 to 80 minutes. Focused goals such as a specific conflict or a transition often improve in 8 to 12 sessions. Reunification and high-conflict co-parenting cases take longer and follow a staged plan.
Yes, unless your parenting plan says otherwise. Under Fla. Stat. 61.13, either parent may consent to mental health treatment for a child. A practitioner still needs 1 parent’s written consent before treating a minor (Fla. Stat. 1014.06). Have the parenting plan and any court order ready for the first call.
In a crisis, for a short time. A Florida teen 13 or older can get outpatient crisis counseling without a parent’s consent, up to 2 visits in 1 week and without medication. After that, a parent must consent, and no clinician is required to offer it (Fla. Stat. 394.4784).
What you say is confidential under Fla. Stat. 491.0147, and when more than 1 family member is in therapy, each one has to agree in writing before the privilege is waived. Suspected child abuse must be reported, a specific threat of serious harm can be disclosed, and court-ordered cases may require reports. Time alone in a session follows the agreement set at intake.
Mention it on the first call. Hendry County cases are heard in the 20th Judicial Circuit, where our psychologists are court-qualified expert witnesses. When a family the practice has been treating later needs a forensic opinion, the evaluation goes to someone else. Some court orders require in-person attendance, and the office checks yours before the first session.
Ask on the first call, before you book. If a family member is more at home in Spanish, 2-1-1 answers in English and Spanish and can point you to other options.
Call 911 if someone is in immediate danger. Otherwise call or text 988, or call the Hendry County mobile response team at (844) 395-4432. Both answer 24 hours a day, and the team’s crisis help costs nothing. If a child is being hurt, call the Florida Abuse Hotline at 1-800-962-2873.
15 minutes with the office. Ask what sessions cost and how your coverage applies, tell us who needs to attend and where each person lives, and mention any Hendry County court matter that involves your family.