Therapy for the whole family in NYC

Every family organizes itself around a structure: hierarchies, boundaries, alliances, roles. When that structure becomes rigid or misaligned, it produces patterns everyone can feel and no one can name — the child who becomes the go-between for two parents who can't talk directly, the sibling who absorbs the family's anxiety so others don't have to, the one who holds too much responsibility while another is pushed to the margins. Family therapy treats what individual therapy can't reach: the system itself.

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Signs Your Family May Benefit from Family Therapy

The same conflicts have repeated for years, sometimes across generations. Everyone can predict how the fight will go, and no one has been able to change it.

  • The Identified Problem

    One family member has become the focus of the family's concern or frustration, while tensions elsewhere in the family go unaddressed

  • Triangulation

    Family members communicate through intermediaries or form alliances rather than speaking directly with one another

  • Fixed Roles

    Longstanding roles, such as the peacekeeper or the responsible one, continue to shape how members relate regardless of whether they still fit

  • Indirect Communication

    Needs and grievances are expressed through hints, withdrawal, or escalation rather than direct conversation

  • Unresolved Transitions

    A significant change, such as divorce, remarriage, illness, relocation, or a death, has disrupted the family and the family has not regained its balance

Questions Families Often Ask:

  • "Why does every conversation turn into the same fight we've had for years?"

  • "Why is one of us always the 'problem' — and is it really them?"

  • "How did we all get so distant when we live under the same roof?"

  • "Why can't we talk about the thing everyone knows we're not talking about?"

  • "Why do I turn back into my teenage self the moment I walk through my parents' door?"

  • "Can our family actually change — or is this just who we are?"

  • "What if not everyone is willing to come?"

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How Therapy Can Help

In family therapy, the client isn't any one person — it's the family itself. Your therapist's first job is to understand every relationship in the room: not just parent-child, but sibling-sibling, parent-parent, and the alliances, silences, and go-between arrangements connecting them all. Each member gets to be heard — including the quiet ones, and including the one who's been carrying the "problem" label — because in a stuck family system, every member's behavior makes sense once you see the whole picture. Together, you'll make the invisible structure visible: the unspoken rules, the inherited roles, the ways anxiety travels through the family and lands on one person. Then you'll practice something new — direct communication instead of triangles, flexible roles instead of assigned ones, boundaries that protect connection instead of preventing it. No one is the villain in this work. The pattern is the problem, and the family solves it as a team.

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The Atlas Approach

Our approach combines research-backed methods that address both the family's structure and the emotional bonds within it.

Each session is customized to your family, and may include:

  • Mapping the family system together — the roles, alliances, boundaries, and unspoken rules that organize how your family operates, and how each member experiences them differently

  • Restructuring the patterns that keep everyone stuck: replacing go-between communication with direct conversation, rebalancing responsibility, and freeing members from roles they've outgrown

  • Practicing new ways of communicating in the room — expressing needs without blame, listening without defending, and repairing ruptures across generations — so change happens live, not just in theory

You'll leave with a shared understanding of your family's dynamics, communication that works without a referee, and a family structure flexible enough to hold everyone in it.

Our work together draws on structural and systemic family therapy approaches alongside emotionally focused work — tailored to your family's needs, ages, and culture.

Results after therapy

Many families see meaningful change within 12–20 sessions and report:

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Conversations That Work

  • The recurring fight, finally understood and interrupted 

  • Direct communication replacing hints, triangles, and explosions

Roles, Rewritten

  • The "problem" family member released from carrying the whole system's stress

  • Responsibility and care distributed by choice, not by decades-old assignment

  • Parents parenting as a team; siblings relating as themselves, not as their roles

A Family Worth Coming
Home To

  • Boundaries that let members be close without losing themselves

  • Ruptures repaired across generations 

  • Holidays, dinners, and ordinary Tuesdays that feel more like connection

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Whoever the pattern involves — which your therapist will help you determine. Some sessions include the whole family; others may involve subsets, like parents together, siblings together, or one parent and one child. The configuration can shift as the work evolves. Families of every form are welcome: two-parent, single-parent, blended, multigenerational, and chosen.

  • No — and waiting for unanimous enthusiasm is usually waiting forever. Family systems are interconnected, so change in some members shifts the whole pattern; reluctant members often join once they see the process is about understanding, not blaming. Start with who's willing.

  • No. The therapist's role is to understand and support every relationship in the system, and to hold the perspective that each member's behavior makes sense within the pattern. If your family has a designated scapegoat or a designated saint, expect both labels to loosen — that's the work, not a side effect.

  • No. Understanding how patterns formed — often inherited from the generations before you — is not the same as prosecuting anyone. Most parents leave family therapy feeling more understood, not less, and most adult children leave with more compassion for their parents, not less. Blame keeps systems stuck; understanding is what moves them.

  • Often, yes. When a teen is struggling, the most effective treatment frequently involves the family, because the dynamics around the teen — communication breakdowns, escalation cycles, misaligned parenting — are usually part of both the problem and the solution. Parent-teen conflict is one of our core focuses.

  • It's not too late, and adult-family work is some of the most rewarding we do. Decades-old patterns, inheritance and caregiving tensions, sibling rifts, and estrangements can shift remarkably when the family finally has a structured place to talk. Some of the most stuck-seeming systems move fastest, because everyone is exhausted from decades of the alternative.

  • We work with many families — including Asian and immigrant families — where directness, hierarchy, and privacy carry deep cultural meaning. Family therapy is adapted to your family's culture, not imposed on it: respect for elders, obligation, and harmony are treated as values to work with, never pathologies to fix.

  • Sessions are confidential to the family — what's said in the room stays there. If your therapist meets with members individually, they'll establish clear agreements up front about what is and isn't shared with the whole family, so no one is ambushed and no one becomes the keeper of secrets.

  • Many families see meaningful change within 12–20 sessions, though the range varies with the family's size, history, and goals. Entrenched, multigenerational patterns may warrant longer work; some families come for a focused series around a specific transition.

  • One family member is enough to begin. Book a free consultation call — we'll listen to what's happening, help you think through who should be involved, and match your family with the right therapist.

Meet our Therapists

  • A woman with shoulder-length dark brown hair, hazel eyes, and hoop earrings, smiling slightly, wearing a white button-up shirt, against a plain white background.

    Janine Cheng, LCSW

    Founder + Clinical Director

    Culturally responsive therapy for perfectionists, people-pleasers, stressed couples, and strained families. Structured, and goal-oriented in a warm and supportive setting.

    Full Bio
  • A woman with medium-length dark hair, wearing hoop earrings, a white turtleneck, and a light brown blazer, smiling in front of a plain white wall.

    Dr. Lisa Cordero, PsyD, LMHC, LPC

    Psychotherapist

    Active, goal-oriented therapy for individuals, couples, and families — insight into why you're stuck, and concrete tools to change it.

    Full Bio
  • Portrait of a woman with black hair smiling, wearing a light gray sweater, standing against a plain light-colored background.

    Donna Hahn, LMSW

    Associate Psychotherapist

    Therapy for first-generation adults, perfectionists, and high achievers who are ready to put down the mask, quiet the replaying mind, and hear their own voice again.

    Full Bio

  • Jennifer Aghavian, LMSW

    associate psychotherapist

    Attachment-focused therapy for individuals and couples navigating anxiety, self-doubt, and relationship difficulties. Understand how past experiences, family or cultural expectations shape the way you relate to yourself and others.

    full bio
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Experience personalized therapy at our office in Nomad

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Our office in Manhattan was intentionally designed to create a sense of comfort, privacy, and ease from the moment you walk through the door. Surrounded by refined interiors and a peaceful atmosphere, you'll find a space that encourages reflection, connection, and meaningful change.

All in-person sessions will take place in a warm, inviting space that will help you feel calm and centered for the work. The office is located in Nomad and easily accessible via the 1, 2, 3, N, R, W, B, D, F, M and 6 lines.

Connect With Us

Book a Consult

You can schedule an introductory conversation with our Clinical Director using the calendar below. During this conversation, we’ll learn more about what you’re looking for and help match you with the therapist on our team who best fits your needs.

If you prefer to connect directly with a therapist, explore our team bios and schedule a consultation with the therapist you’re most interested in working with.

E-mail Us

If you’re not quite ready to book a consultation, use the form below to introduce yourself and tell us a little about what you’re looking for.

You’ll hear from our Clinical Director within 24 business hours.

Based on what you share about your concerns, goals, preferences, availability and budget, we’ll recommend one or more therapists whose experience and approach may be a good fit and guide you through the next step.

Rewrite your story today.

You don't have to keep repeating the same patterns. Therapy can help you better understand what's driving them and create a different path forward. Let us help find the right therapist for you.

Request a free consultation