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Family Therapy In Cooper City, FL

FC PsychExperts has no office in Cooper City. Your family meets a licensed clinician at our Fort Lauderdale office, about 12 miles northeast, or by secure video from home. If a Broward family court case is open, read the court section before you book anyone. In Broward, the route into family therapy decides who hears about it.

Parents and daughter attending an online family therapy session.
  • Licensed in Florida
  • In person in Fort Lauderdale
  • Secure video from home
  • Fees and insurance confirmed on the call

Quick answer: FC PsychExperts provides family therapy to Cooper City families in person at its Fort Lauderdale office at 1451 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 300, about 12 miles northeast of Cooper City. Sessions also run by secure video anywhere in Florida. Family sessions run 50 to 80 minutes, focused goals often improve in 8 to 12 sessions, and first family sessions are usually available within the same week. Family therapy is led by Jessica T. Aloise, LCSW, who has more than 20 years of experience with individuals, couples and families, in a practice founded by Dr. Cathy Colet, Psy.D., FL License PY9058. Fees and insurance options are confirmed when you call (561) 870-0411.

How family therapy works here

What the First Family Session Covers

The first family session runs 80 minutes, in the Fort Lauderdale office or on secure video, and it moves through 4 steps.

  • Minutes 0 to 15: each person says what would need to be different for them to call this helpful. Nobody gets interrupted.
  • Minutes 15 to 45: the clinician maps the loop your family keeps running, including who reacts to whom, what happens next and where it ends.
  • Minutes 45 to 65: a teenager or a co-parent may get a stretch of time alone with the clinician.
  • Minutes 65 to 80: your family leaves with 1 small, specific thing to try before the next session, plus a plan for who attends next time and how often you meet.
Family therapist teaching communication skills during a counseling session.

Not needed on day 1

The whole family, a diagnosis, or a tidy account of whose fault it is. Family therapy can begin with whoever is willing.

Families call about a teenager who’s stopped talking, co-parents who can’t agree, a step-family working out its rules, adult siblings arguing about a parent’s care, or a court order that says family counseling. In family therapy, 2 or more family members meet with a licensed clinician together. Who attends depends on the goal: the whole household, a parent and 1 child, or 2 co-parents with no children present. Your clinician plans the mix with you, and it changes as the work moves.

The work uses structural, systemic and attachment-based approaches, matched to your family. Focused goals, such as a specific conflict or a transition, often improve in 8 to 12 sessions. Reunification and high-conflict co-parenting take longer and follow a structured, staged plan, and progress is reviewed with the family at set points.

Family therapy is 1 of 5 therapy services at FC PsychExperts, alongside individual, couples, court-ordered and co-parenting therapy. For families north of Broward, see family therapy across Palm Beach County.

Before you filter a search

Which Florida Licenses Cover Family Therapy

Florida licenses 3 kinds of therapists under chapter 491 to treat families: clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors. Filtering a search to marriage and family therapists alone shrinks your list for no legal reason.

506

Active marriage and family therapist licenses in Broward County, FY 2023-24

25.4

Per 100,000 Broward residents, about double Florida’s rate of 12.1

14

Florida counties with no active marriage and family therapist license, FY 2023-24

51%

Growth in Florida’s active marriage and family therapist licenses, FY 2016-17 to FY 2023-24

Supply is growing. Florida’s active marriage and family therapist licenses rose from 1,845 to 2,791 between FY 2016-17 and FY 2023-24, and Broward’s 506 make up 18% of the state’s total.

What Florida law says each license covers

LicenseWhat the law’s definition includesStatute
LCSW Clinical social workerTreating “individual, couple, marital, family, or group behavior”Fla. Stat. 491.003(8)
LMFT Marriage and family therapist“Marital, family, and individual behavior,” in the context of marital and family systemsFla. Stat. 491.003(9)
LMHC Mental health counselorPractice that may extend to “couples, families, groups, organizations, and communities”Fla. Stat. 491.003(10)
PY PsychologistLicensed separately, and can add the marriage and family therapy license through the dual route belowChapter 490; Fla. Stat. 491.0057

The dual route is open to psychologists, clinical social workers, mental health counselors and psychiatric advanced practice registered nurses. Each needs at least 3 years of active licensure and a passing score on the marriage and family therapy exam (Fla. Stat. 491.0057). The board last amended its rule for that route on November 3, 2025 (Rule 64B4-3.010). Family therapy here is led by a licensed clinical social worker, whose license covers family work under Fla. Stat. 491.003(8).

Filter by experience with families like yours, then check the license number yourself.

Sources for this section: Florida Department of Health, FLHealthCHARTS, licensed marriage and family therapists, FY 2016-17 to FY 2023-24 · 2026 Florida Statutes, chapter 491, sections 491.003 and 491.0057 · Florida Administrative Code Rule 64B4-3.010.

Local context

What Cooper City’s Census Numbers Mean for Family Therapy

Cooper City homes hold 3.11 people on average, and more than 1 in 4 residents was born outside the U.S. Both shape who comes to sessions and what a good fit looks like.

3.11

People per household

25.4%

Of residents are under 18

30.7%

Of residents are Hispanic or Latino

26.6%

Of residents were born outside the U.S.

  • With 3.11 people in the average home, session 1 doesn’t need everyone. Start with whoever is willing, and bring the rest in as the work moves.
  • 37.3% of residents age 5 and older speak a language other than English at home. If someone in your family would rather talk in another language, say so on the first call, at any practice.
  • When family members grew up in different countries, expectations about parenting, privacy and who decides can split along those lines. Put that on the table in session 1. It’s part of the work.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts, Cooper City, Florida. Household, birthplace and language figures are 2020-2024 estimates.

How sessions reach you

Fort Lauderdale Office or Video: How Family Sessions Reach You

Family work runs in the room or on video, and Florida holds therapy by video to the same professional standard as therapy in a room (Fla. Stat. 456.47). Our Fort Lauderdale office is about 12 miles northeast of Cooper City in a straight line, and it’s open to Broward clients who want to come in.

  • Choose the office when 3 or more of you attend together, or when home has no private room for the conversation.
  • Choose video when a weekday drive would be the reason someone misses a session.
  • Split households can run on separate screens. In co-parenting sessions, each parent can join from their own location.
  • Everyone joins from Florida. A family member who’s in another state during a session falls under that state’s rules, covered in the FAQ.
Fort Lauderdale office1451 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 300, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309
Phone(561) 870-0411 for questions and booking.
Secure video, anywhere in FloridaThe same family session, from the rooms you choose.
15-minute callA short call with the office. Nothing is booked until you say so.
Schedule an Appointment
If a Broward family case is open

Who Hears About Your Family’s Therapy in a Broward Case

In a Broward family case, therapy reaches your family by 1 of 2 routes. A judge or magistrate can send you through the 17th Judicial Circuit’s Family Court Services, which works at the court’s direction. Or you choose a therapist yourself, and Florida law keeps what you say confidential, with limits.

Family Court Services runs social investigations in-house, at no cost to the parties, under Fla. Stat. 61.20. It handles parenting coordination. It also arranges court-ordered referrals to outside providers, including family counseling with reunification when required, co-parenting programs, parenting classes, and supervised and therapeutic supervised visitation. It gives priority to county-funded programs or the most economical appropriate provider, and outside services may cost the parties.

The Florida Bar News reported in January 2026 that the circuit was launching the program as a pilot for 8 family judges and 5 magistrates, with staff reporting back to the court. Its manager described the staff as “the eyes and ears of the court.”

RouteHow it startsCostWho hears about it
Social investigationA court order, under Fla. Stat. 61.20No cost to the parties when Family Court Services runs itThe judge. It exists to help the court decide time-sharing
Family counseling or reunification through Family Court ServicesA court order. Family Court Services arranges the referralMay cost the parties. County-funded programs and the most economical provider come firstThe court. Program staff report back on whether families got the services ordered
Court-ordered family therapy with a provider you chooseA court order that lets you pick the providerConfirmed on the first callThe court receives the reports the order requires. FC PsychExperts provides attendance and progress documentation when an order calls for it
Family therapy you arrange yourselfYou call the practiceConfirmed on the first callNobody without written consent from each family member in therapy, except where Florida law requires disclosure

If your order names family counseling, read whether it also names a provider. When it lets you choose, a family therapist you pick can do the work, and the release you sign sets what goes back to the court. Ask your attorney before you sign.

Before session 1, ask 2 things: who chose the therapist, and who receives reports.

Sources for this section: 17th Judicial Circuit, Family Court Services · The Florida Bar News, January 9, 2026 · Fla. Stat. 61.20 and 491.0147.

Confidentiality, in plain terms

What Stays Private in Family Therapy

What your family says in private family therapy is confidential under Fla. Stat. 491.0147, and the statute lists the exceptions. In family therapy, 1 person can’t waive the privilege for everyone.

  • When more than 1 family member is in therapy, the privilege is waived only when each family member agrees in writing.
  • A clinician must report a specific threat to cause serious bodily injury or death to law enforcement, to the extent needed to communicate the threat.
  • Suspected child abuse has to be reported to the state (Fla. Stat. 39.201).
  • In court, therapy communications lose their privilege in a court-ordered examination, and where a party relies on a mental or emotional condition as part of a claim or defense (Fla. Stat. 90.503).
Teenage son and parents discussing family concerns with a therapist.

What’s shared is set at intake

Time a family member spends alone with the clinician is covered by a confidentiality agreement set at intake. Court-ordered cases may require specific reports to the court. Your clinician explains what is and isn’t shared before you begin.

1 rule we keep: your family therapist won’t evaluate your family

The clinician who treats your family doesn’t write the opinion a judge reads about it. A treating clinician works for the family, and an evaluator works for the court. Dr. Colet is a court-appointed expert witness in Broward’s 17th Judicial Circuit, and the Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology treat holding both roles for 1 family as a role conflict. If your case may need an evaluation, say so on the first call, before anything is booked. Court evaluations are a separate service: forensic psychological evaluations.

Limits we state up front

When Family Therapy Here Is the Wrong First Step

6 situations call for a different first step. Say so on the first call, and the office matches you to the right service.

01

Someone is being hurt

Treatment isn’t the first step, and a weekly appointment isn’t a safety plan. Call 911. If the risk is to someone’s own life, call or text 988. In Broward, 2-1-1 also runs a 24/7 crisis line.

02

1 person needs treatment first

Sometimes the pattern at home sits downstream of something in 1 family member that needs individual treatment first. Family sessions built on top of it stall, and the family decides therapy doesn’t work.

03

The court needs an evaluation

Family therapy won’t produce a custody-related evaluation. In Broward, the court gets that answer through a social investigation by Family Court Services, or through a forensic psychological evaluation with a separate clinician.

04

1 adult has decided to leave

If 1 adult has already decided to leave, or to stop contact, family sessions can’t reverse that and shouldn’t be used to try. Parents who are separating and share children can ask about co-parenting therapy.

05

You need the parenting course

Divorcing Broward parents of minor children take the Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course (Administrative Order 2017-19-UFC; Fla. Stat. 61.21). A state-approved provider runs it. FC PsychExperts doesn’t.

06

Only evenings work

Evenings aren’t offered here. Secure video cuts the drive, which helps when the family can’t all reach the office. If your family can only meet after work and school, say so on the first call, and if no daytime slot fits, start your search elsewhere.

Licensed clinicians, named

Who Leads Family Therapy Here

Ask any practice for the license number of the clinician your family would see, then check it yourself on the Florida Department of Health’s license verification service.

Jessica T. Aloise, LCSW, licensed clinical social worker who leads family therapy at FC PsychExperts

Jessica T. Aloise, LCSW

Licensed Clinical Social Worker · 20+ years

Jessica leads family therapy at the practice and sees families in person and by secure video. She has more than 20 years of experience with individuals, couples and families, and her family work centers on communication, regulation and repair.

Works with: parents and teenagers · co-parents · blended families · adult families

Focus: emotional healing · relationships · communication · emotional regulation · recovery · personal growth

Dr. Cathy Colet, Psy.D., licensed clinical and forensic psychologist and founder of FC PsychExperts

Dr. Cathy Colet, Psy.D.

Licensed Clinical and Forensic Psychologist · Founder · FL License PY9058

Dr. Colet founded Forensic and Clinical PsychExperts, LLC, and oversees court-referred family cases and the documentation they require. She has worked on Florida court cases since 2008 and is a court-appointed expert witness in Florida’s 1st, 15th, 17th, 19th and 20th Judicial Circuits. The 17th covers Broward.

Member of: American Psychological Association · Association of Family and Conciliation Courts

Where sessions reach

Families We See From Cooper City and Southwest Broward

Families join by secure video from anywhere in Florida or come to the Fort Lauderdale office. These are the Cooper City neighborhoods and nearby cities this page serves.

Cooper City 33328Cooper City 33330Embassy LakesRock CreekMonterraCountry GlenDaviePembroke PinesSouthwest RanchesWestonPlantationHollywoodFort LauderdaleSecure video, all of Florida
Before you call

Questions Families Ask Before Calling

Is there an FC PsychExperts office in Cooper City?

No. Cooper City families meet a licensed clinician in person at the Fort Lauderdale office, 1451 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 300, Fort Lauderdale, Florida 33309, about 12 miles northeast of Cooper City, or by secure video anywhere in Florida. The practice’s other office is in Jupiter.

Does everyone in the family have to come to the first session?

No. Who attends depends on the goal. Some sessions include the whole household, others a parent and 1 child, or 2 co-parents with no children present. Your clinician plans the mix with you in the first session, and it changes as the work moves.

What if 1 family member refuses to attend?

Start anyway. Family therapy can begin with whoever is willing. Bringing the missing family member in is usually an early goal of the work, and it isn’t a condition for starting.

How long are family sessions, and how many will we need?

Family sessions run 50 to 80 minutes, and the first family session runs 80. Focused goals, such as a specific conflict or a transition, often improve in 8 to 12 sessions. Reunification and high-conflict co-parenting take longer and follow a structured, staged plan. Progress is reviewed with the family at set points.

Does our family therapist have to be a licensed marriage and family therapist?

No. Under Fla. Stat. 491.003, clinical social workers, marriage and family therapists and mental health counselors are all licensed to treat families, and psychologists are licensed under chapter 490. Broward had 506 active marriage and family therapist licenses in FY 2023-24, per the Florida Department of Health, and a search limited to that 1 license leaves out the other 2 licenses that cover family work. Check any clinician’s license number with the Department of Health.

Our Broward judge ordered family counseling. Can we choose our own therapist?

Read the order. The 17th Judicial Circuit’s Family Court Services arranges court-ordered referrals, including family counseling and reunification, and it gives priority to county-funded programs or the most economical appropriate provider. If the order lets you choose a provider, a family therapist you pick can do the work. FC PsychExperts accepts court-referred families and provides attendance and progress documentation when the order requires it. Ask your attorney before you book.

Will the judge see what we say in family therapy?

Not by default. Under Fla. Stat. 491.0147, what you tell a licensed clinical social worker, marriage and family therapist or mental health counselor is confidential. When more than 1 family member is in therapy, each has to agree in writing before the privilege is waived. The law requires disclosure of specific threats of serious harm, suspected child abuse must be reported, and Fla. Stat. 90.503 removes the privilege in a court-ordered examination. In court-ordered therapy, the court receives the reports the order requires.

Can 1 parent start family therapy for our child without the other parent?

Usually, under a shared parenting order. Under Fla. Stat. 61.13(2)(b)3.a, when a court orders shared parental responsibility over health care decisions, either parent may consent to mental health treatment for the child unless the parenting plan says otherwise. Read your plan before you book, and bring it to the first call.

Can a family member who lives outside Florida join by video?

Usually not while they’re in another state. A Florida license covers clients who are physically in Florida during a session. A family member joining from another state is that state’s client, and that state’s rules decide whether a Florida clinician may see them. Tell the office who lives where on the first call.

Can our family therapist also evaluate our family for the court?

No. The clinician who treats your family doesn’t write the opinion a judge reads about it. The Specialty Guidelines for Forensic Psychology treat serving as both a family’s therapist and its court evaluator as a role conflict. Dr. Colet is a court-appointed expert witness in Broward’s 17th Judicial Circuit, so if your case may need an evaluation, say so on the first call, before anything is booked. A court evaluation is a separate service with a separate clinician.

Do you take our insurance?

Fees and insurance options are confirmed when you call, before anything is booked. If your plan is out of network, ask the office about a superbill so you can request reimbursement.

Take the first step

Book a 15-Minute Call

A short call with the office to work out which service fits and who should come to the first session. Ask what sessions cost, how your plan applies, and the date of your first session.

In a mental health crisis, call or text 988. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911.

Have these ready

  • The parenting plan or any court order in your case.
  • Who lives in which home, and anyone who lives outside Florida.
  • Your insurance card, so fees and coverage can be confirmed.
  • The days and times that work for everyone who’ll attend.