Couples Therapy in Ajax

Ajax is a town of households with a lot going on. The 2021 Census counted about 39,500 households here, averaging roughly 3.2 people each, and about four in ten have four or more people under one roof; most homes are single-detached houses. For a couple, that usually means the relationship shares its evenings with homework, meal prep, a parent who lives with you or a teenager who needs a lift. None of that is a problem in itself. The difficulty comes when, month after month, the partnership only gets whatever is left once everyone else has been looked after.

Work adds a second rhythm. About half of employed Ajax residents work outside Durham Region, mostly in Toronto and York Region, while the other half work in town or elsewhere in Durham. In plenty of homes that means one partner leaves early for the train or the highway while the other handles the school drop-off and gets back first. Two people end up living on different clocks: one walks in drained from the trip, the other has been holding the household alone since mid-afternoon, and each quietly believes they are the one carrying more.

That is the kind of cycle Emotionally Focused Therapy was built for. Under "you're never here" there is usually "I miss you, and I'm tired of doing this alone"; under the silence on the couch there is often "nothing I do is enough for you". EFT helps you slow those exchanges down until each of you can hear the need inside the complaint. Schema Therapy adds the history: why being left to cope stings so sharply for one of you, or why asking for help feels so risky for the other. Some couples are also blending two families' expectations about roles, money and how involved relatives should be, and that deserves room in the conversation rather than being treated as background noise.

Money often sits underneath as well. Housing in Durham Region costs less than in Toronto but is far from cheap: the average residential sale price across the region was about $900,000 from January to July 2025. A large mortgage, two incomes and the cost of raising children can quietly shape arguments that look, on the surface, like they are about chores, screen time or in-laws. Naming that pressure together, rather than blaming each other for it, is often part of the work.

Online sessions suit a full house. There is no drive to an office and no sitter to book for the trip; you can meet from a quiet room once the kids are down. Some couples choose a 90-minute first session, when there is a lot of ground to cover, then settle into a regular rhythm. Couples work is offered by Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), by Tina Abadi, RP, and by Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, in English, Farsi or a mix of both, for couples anywhere in Ajax and across Ontario.