Therapy Rooted in Connection, Culture, and Collective Care
Feeling lost or unrooted during big changes can make it hard to find your footing. You might feel overwhelmed by outside stress, trauma, or inner conflict, leaving you stuck and burned out. You want to break unhealthy cycles and live more aligned with who you truly are, but it’s hard to embody those changes alone.
If you carry marginalized identities, it’s natural to wonder if a therapist will truly understand your experience. At Space For Kapwa, therapy is rooted in liberation, social justice, and decolonization—a place where your whole self is honored and supported.
Individual and Couples Therapy
$200 per 50-minute sessions
For individual clients or couples looking to support their relationship
For adults and teens
Held either in-person or virtually (usually over video, but sometimes over the phone)
If longer sessions are needed, they will be pro-rated based on your rate
Good Faith Estimate
Your Right to a Good Faith Estimate
You have the right to know what your care will cost.
If you don’t have insurance or aren’t using insurance, we’re legally required to provide a Good Faith Estimate of expected charges for services like therapy. This estimate is not a contract—you can always choose whether or not to proceed.
What you're entitled to:
A written estimate for the total expected cost of care
The ability to ask for an estimate before scheduling
Protection from bills that are $400+ above your estimate
The right to dispute charges
We recommend keeping a copy or photo of your estimate for your records.
For more information, visit www.cms.gov/nosurprises or call 1-800-985-3059.
Modalities and Approaches
Internal Family Systems (IFS) and Parts Work therapy
EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) therapy
Therapeutic approaches informed by our values of liberation, social justice, decolonization, and sensitivity and humility for culture and identity
Therapeutic approaches that are trauma-informed, not just trauma-focused… meaning we intentionally work to attune to your trauma experiences and strive to hold ourselves accountable for not re-creating harm within the space of therapy
Space For Kapwa therapists offer:
While we are passionate about the methods above, we believe that our clients are ultimately the experts of what makes them well. This means that we work with you to foster mutual communication and collaboration in the therapy, revealing a personalized journey that works for YOU.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Yes! We are happy to share that we have some options to accept insurance, which increases the accessibility of our care.
Kate Viernes and Aviv Emma Rouda are both in-network with Aetna. Please have your Aetna plan information ready at your first session or free consultation so our therapists can ensure billing is handled appropriately.
Kate Viernes works with some people insured by Kaiser Northern California with an active Grow Therapy referral. Currently, Kate is not accepting new Kaiser referrals. If you’d like to explore options covered by Kaiser, please visit https://healthy.kaiserpermanente.org/northern-california/health-wellness/mental-health/services or call 1-888-937-5748.
For all other health insurance plans, Space For Kapwa is considered an out-of-network provider, meaning you will pay our full rate. If you have a PPO insurance plan, it is possible that you can receive partial reimbursement for your session costs. If appropriate, Space For Kapwa can provide you with a monthly superbill, which is a document that has all the necessary information that your insurance needs to reimburse you. You’ll be responsible for filing any insurance claims, but we’re happy to walk you through it if needed. -
At Space For Kapwa, we are mindful of the many reasons why paying for therapy is out of reach for some. When our therapists have capacity, we may be able to offer new clients a "sliding scale" or reduced rate. Please see our blog post here for a social justice-based guide to requesting a sliding scale rate for your therapy sessions.
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Yes, we do. Should you need to cancel an appointment, Space For Kapwa requires that you let your therapist know at least 48 hours in advance. Any session canceled with less than 48 hours’ notice is considered late, and you are responsible for paying for the missed session in full. Our therapists use their discretion to make limited exceptions (such as emergency situations) to this policy.
If you determine you cannot make your scheduled appointment with LESS than 48 hours’ notice, our therapists will do their best to offer you another available timeslot within the same calendar week. If you and your therapist are unable to find a mutually agreeable time to reschedule to, you are responsible for paying for the missed session in full.
“No-show” sessions will be charged in full (except in limited emergency situations). -
No. Space For Kapwa therapists are only licensed to practice within the state of California, and therefore, our clients must be California residents.
When you travel out of state, such as for a short-term vacation or for long-term work or school, we are also unable to work with you during that time (with limited exceptions, such as during the COVID pandemic with permission from other state jurisdictions).
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It completely depends! We find that in-person therapy can sometimes promote better development of the client-therapist relationship, as well as clearer mutual communication overall. That said, virtual therapy is not necessarily worse—especially if you live outside of the South Bay Area, have exacting or inflexible work hours, or simply prefer the convenience and comfort of taking your therapy call from your own space. You get to choose, and we offer both options for that reason.
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Great questions! While every person and situation are different, here is a general idea of what to expect from the entire process and timeline:
First, we recommend starting with a free 15-minute consultation. We’ll meet briefly to see if it feels like a good fit. This is your space to ask questions, share what’s bringing you in, and get a sense of how we work.
Next, expect to spend a few sessions building a connection with your therapist. In the first 2–4 sessions, we’ll take time to get to know each other, develop trust, and talk intentionally about your goals. We’ll also go over what approaches or modalities might be most helpful for you—this is what Western therapy calls your “treatment plan.” For us, it mostly helps provide a sense of mutual clarity, direction, and expectations.
If things still feel right, we keep going… at your pace. There’s no one-size-fits-all path for healing, but many people start noticing shifts in targeted areas after about 8–12 consistent sessions. We’ll check in as we go and adjust as we need, together. -
This definitely happens, and it could mean more than one thing. Whether it’s due to confusion over what’s happening in the space, a rupture or mismatch between client and therapist, or the wrong timing for you to be in therapy, here is what we ask in such situations: talk to us about it! Processing it together not only has the potential to help shed light and clarity on your needs… it can also be an important moment for your personal growth to face a moment of uncertainty with courage and have input on receiving the type of care that you most definitely deserve.
To put it another way, if you find you’re not sure if you want to continue therapy after the first session or two,
we highly recommend that you talk to us about it before jumping ship. And while we prefer you don’t ghost us… if you do, we get it (because we’re human just like you!). And we will respect your decision regardless.
Let’s walk this journey together.
You deserve care that sees the whole you. We offer therapy that’s trauma-informed and centered on connection, especially for people and communities who’ve been marginalized.