Our story

A practice built on belonging.

Rivas Psychotherapy began with a question — what would mental health care look like if it truly belonged to the bilingual, bicultural communities it served?

Our journey

From one chair, to twelve.

  1. 2009

    The beginning

    Dr. Michele Rivas opens her solo bilingual practice in Weston, Florida, after years of clinical training across the United States and Latin America.

  2. 2014

    Immigration evaluations launch

    The practice begins offering specialized mental health evaluations for asylum, VAWA and U-Visa cases across South Florida.

  3. 2018

    A growing team

    The first associate clinicians join. The practice grows into a multi-disciplinary, bilingual team with shared cultural values.

  4. 2021

    Telehealth across three states

    Care expands to Florida, New York and New Jersey — meeting bilingual clients wherever they live.

  5. 2024

    12 clinicians, one mission

    The team comprises 12 licensed bilingual therapists, all sharing a commitment to evidence-based, culturally fluent care.

  6. 2026

    Established as a multi-state private practice

    Rivas Psychotherapy establishes itself as a private practice that accepts the major commercial health insurance plans in multiple states, as well as Medicaid in New York.

MR
Dr. Michele Rivas PhD · LMHC · QS · NCC · Founder
Therapy should sound like you — your language, your accent, your jokes, the silences between the words your family taught you. I built this practice so no one has to translate themselves to be understood.
— Dr. Michele Rivas
What we believe

The four commitments.

Compassion

Every story is held with care — yours included. There is no version of you too messy, too quiet, too foreign for this room.

Cultural Fluency

Bilingual isn't an add-on. Our clinicians live the bicultural experience — the family dinners, the code-switching, the in-between.

Evidence-Based

CBT, DBT, EMDR, ACT, Gottman, EFT — we use what the research supports, adapted to who you are.

Accessibility

Sliding-scale spots, insurance, in-person care in Florida and telehealth across New York and New Jersey — because the threshold to begin should be low.

Who we serve

Care for every community.

🌎 Latino community 🛂 Immigrants 🏳️‍🌈 LGBTQ+ affirming 🌿 Adults 🪷 Seniors 🌱 Children & adolescents 🤝 People with disabilities 🏡 Bilingual families 💼 First-gen professionals
We're hiring

Join our team.

We're growing our bilingual clinical team. If you care about culturally fluent, evidence-based care, we'd love to meet you.

Licensed clinicians Bilingual (EN/ES) In-person & remote

Become part of our story.

Reach out and let's see if we're the right fit.