We Built the Practice We Always Wished Existed. Here's What That Looks Like.
By Dr. Shar Najafi-Piper, PhD | CEO & Founder, Roya Health
I want to tell you something I genuinely believe: there is no better place to do this work than Arizona right now. The need for skilled, compassionate behavioral health clinicians, especially for children and families, is real and it is growing. For clinicians who want their work to actually mean something, that is not a burden. It is an invitation.
Roya Health exists because I wanted to build the kind of practice I would want to work in. One where clinicians feel genuinely supported, where the culture is warm and collaborative, and where the work itself is set up to succeed.
The impact here is something you can feel.
Early intervention in childhood behavioral health changes lives. A child who gets the right support at seven has a fundamentally different path than one who waits. The families who come to us have often been searching for a while, and when they finally find a team that truly sees their child, you can feel the relief in the room.
Our clinicians are not just filling a caseload. They are building real relationships and making a genuine difference, inside an integrated care model that actually gives them what they need to succeed. When the therapist, prescriber, and care coordinator work together, the clinical work improves. And honestly, it feels better too.
We built a culture first.
I am really proud of what our team has built together. Clinicians who join Roya Health stay, and I think it comes down to people feeling safe here. Safe to ask questions, safe to not have all the answers, safe to be a whole person outside of their caseload.
We pay competitively because talented clinicians deserve to be compensated well. Full stop. We also keep caseloads manageable, offer real clinical supervision, not just the checkbox kind, and make sure no one on our team ever feels like they are out there alone.
And we have fun together. We celebrate each other. We do the small things that remind everyone on the team that they are seen and appreciated. Work-life balance is something we actually protect here, not just something we put on a job posting.
When clinicians feel good, families feel it. That connection is real, and it is why culture is never an afterthought at Roya; it is the whole foundation.
We are building something bigger.
Beyond our own practice, we are part of a larger conversation about what behavioral health care in Arizona can and should look like. Stronger training pipelines. Loan forgiveness that actually reaches the clinicians serving communities with the greatest need. Reimbursement structures that let mission-driven practices grow.
We are not waiting for the system to catch up. We are building the kind of practice that shows what is possible when you get it right, and we are looking for clinicians who want to be part of that.
_____________________________________________
Dr. Shar Najafi-Piper is the founder and CEO of Roya Health, an integrated behavioral health practice serving children and families across the greater Phoenix, AZ area. Learn more at roya.health.
