I.
EFT-informed approach
Emotionally Focused Therapy is the gold standard for couples work, backed by decades of research showing lasting improvement in relationship satisfaction and secure attachment.
Online across Ontario · English & فارسی
Couples Therapy in Barrie
Build a relationship that feels safe again, even if the move north left the two of you carrying more on your own. Online couples therapy for Barrie couples, using Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and Schema Therapy, in English or Farsi.
Ghazal SheikhtaheriGhazal
Founder & Clinical Director
RP (Qualifying) · CRPO #21300
Waitlist · 3–4 weeks
Both partners are welcome on the free 15-minute call, or just one. Tina and Roya are booking now; Ghazal is booking by waitlist (3–4 weeks).
Sound Familiar?
Do any of these feel familiar?
- You keep having the same argument over and over: different topic, same hurt, same shutdown.
- You feel more like co-managers of a household than partners: capable, busy and emotionally miles apart.
- One of you pursues while the other withdraws, and neither of you knows how to stop the cycle.
- Trust has been damaged by betrayal, dishonesty, or simply years of unspoken resentment.
- It feels like one partner is doing all the emotional work, and the other doesn't see the problem.
- Cultural or family expectations add an invisible layer of pressure that outsiders don't understand.
The Approach
What couples therapy looks like at NoorMinds
Couples therapy here is built on Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), the most researched and evidence-based approach for couples. EFT helps you and your partner identify the negative interaction cycles that keep you stuck, and creates new patterns of emotional connection and safety between you.
Ghazal also integrates Schema Therapy into couples work, which helps each partner understand the deep emotional patterns formed in childhood, and how those patterns get triggered in the relationship. When you understand why your partner's behaviour hits so hard, and why your reactions feel so automatic, real change becomes possible.
Why NoorMinds
Four reasons couples choose this practice
II.
Deeper pattern work
Schema Therapy helps each partner understand the childhood wounds driving their reactions, so you stop blaming each other and start understanding what's really happening.
III.
Culturally sensitive
As an Iranian immigrant herself, Ghazal understands how cultural background shapes relationship expectations: family involvement, gender roles, and the weight of unspoken rules.
IV.
Bilingual sessions
Available in English and Farsi (فارسی). Both partners don't need to speak Farsi. Sessions adapt to whatever language mix works for your relationship.
Pricing
Simple, transparent pricing
Free15-min consultation
$225Couples · 60 min
$350Couples · 90 min
Insurance receipts provided. Many extended health plans cover psychotherapy with a Registered Psychotherapist. Ghazal holds the Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying) designation, so please confirm your plan covers it. Full fees & insurance details
90-Minute Extended Session · $350
By popular demand. The extended format gives couples more room to slow down, move through difficult conversations without feeling rushed, and explore the deeper patterns shaping the relationship. Many couples choose the 90-minute format for their first session, when there's the most ground to cover.
Separate receipts can be issued for each partner where plans allow.
Questions
Common questions
What is Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)?
EFT is the most researched couples therapy approach in the world. It helps partners identify the negative cycles keeping them stuck, like pursue-withdraw or attack-attack patterns, and guides them toward new ways of responding that create emotional safety and secure attachment. Research shows 70-75% of couples move from distress to recovery with EFT.
Does online couples therapy actually work?
Yes. Research shows online couples therapy is as effective as in-person sessions. Many couples find virtual sessions more convenient and less stressful: you're in your own space, there's no commute, and scheduling becomes easier. All you need is a private room and a stable internet connection.
My partner is reluctant. Should I wait until they're ready?
It's common for one partner to be more ready than the other. A free 15-minute consultation can help. Sometimes hearing what therapy actually involves makes it less intimidating. If your partner isn't ready yet, individual therapy can also help you understand your own patterns and shift the dynamic from your side.
How long does couples therapy take?
It depends on the depth of the issues. Some couples notice meaningful shifts within 8-12 sessions. More complex situations, like healing after betrayal or long-standing disconnection, may take longer. We'll discuss realistic expectations during your consultation.
Do both partners need to speak Farsi?
No. Ghazal, Tina and Roya all work in English and Farsi. Sessions can be conducted in English, Farsi, or a mix of both, whatever works for your relationship. If one partner speaks Farsi and the other doesn't, sessions adapt naturally.
What's the difference between couples therapy and individual therapy?
Individual therapy focuses on your personal patterns and wellbeing. Couples therapy focuses on the relationship itself: the dynamic between you, the cycles you get caught in, and how to create a more secure bond together. Some people benefit from both simultaneously.
We moved to Barrie from the GTA and lost the family help we used to have. Is that the kind of strain couples therapy works with?
Yes. Moving away from family and friends changes a relationship, because more of the practical and emotional load falls on the two of you. Couples therapy looks at how that pressure plays out between you, including the cycle of one partner reaching and the other withdrawing, and helps you find your way back toward each other. Sessions are online, in English, Farsi or both.
We have young kids and no babysitter nearby. Do we need childcare to do couples therapy?
Not usually. Sessions are online, so there is no travel time to cover, only the session itself. What matters is being able to talk without being overheard, so a time when the children are asleep or busy elsewhere in the house usually works well. Use the free 15-minute consultation to sort out what fits your family's evenings.
Next Step
Ready to reconnect?
Book a free 15-minute consultation without adding another drive to your week. No commitment, no pressure.
Or call (647) 699-5142 · WhatsApp · Email
Calls and messages aren’t monitored for emergencies. If you are in immediate danger, call 911. If you are in crisis, call or text 988, the Suicide Crisis Helpline, available 24/7.
NoorMinds offers online couples therapy to partners in Barrie, Innisfil, Springwater and the rest of Simcoe County, and across Ontario, from the Greater Toronto Area to Ottawa, Hamilton, London, and beyond. Culturally sensitive, evidence-based care in English and Farsi.
Couples Therapy Across Ontario
NoorMinds provides virtual couples therapy to partners throughout Ontario. Select your city to learn more:
Barrie
Couples therapy in Barrie, without the village you left behind
If you moved to Barrie from the GTA for more space, a yard or a house you could manage, you may also have moved away from the people who used to hold things together: the parent who took the kids on a sick day, the sibling who came over when you were fighting, the friends who noticed when one of you went quiet. The Barrie area has been growing (the census metropolitan area, which takes in Innisfil and Springwater, added about 8 per cent between 2016 and 2021), and for couples who arrived from somewhere else, family life can run with a lot less backup than before.
Without that village, more lands on the two of you. Commuting adds to it: in 2021, roughly 38 per cent of Barrie's commuters worked outside the city, whether that meant the 400 at dawn, a GO train from Allandale Waterfront or Barrie South, or a plant shift in a nearby town. Many of the rest work in the city but keep hospital, retail or school hours that may not match a partner's. Evenings shrink to logistics, winter driving adds its own tension, and the conversations that matter get postponed until everyone is too tired to have them well.
Emotionally Focused Therapy helps couples see the cycle that exhaustion and isolation set in motion: one partner pushes for connection, the other retreats to cope, and each reads the other's move as proof of not caring. Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), brings Schema Therapy into that work, so each of you can understand why this particular kind of distance hurts as much as it does. Tina Abadi, RP, also offers EFT-based couples therapy with a structured, practical style. Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, also offers Emotionally Focused Therapy, with a culturally responsive lens.
Distance from family changes the old arguments too. Holidays turn into long drives and negotiations about whose parents get which weekend. Decisions that used to be shaped by a grandparent's opinion now rest on the two of you, and one partner may miss home far more than the other admits. Couples therapy gives those differences a place to be spoken aloud, before they turn into the quiet scorekeeping that wears a relationship down.
Sessions are online, so therapy does not ask for one more trip. All it takes is somewhere you can close the door and talk, whether you live near Kempenfelt Bay or anywhere else in the city. Couples sessions are 60 or 90 minutes, in English, Farsi or both, for partners in Barrie and across Ontario.
Local support in Barrie
Independent of NoorMinds and unaffiliated with the practice, these Barrie and Simcoe County services are worth knowing about alongside or between sessions.
- CFS Counselling + Wellbeing: counselling for adults, couples and families across Simcoe Muskoka, based in Barrie, in person or virtually.
- Barrie Community Health Centre: non-profit community health centre offering primary care and health-promotion programs.
- Canadian Mental Health Association, Simcoe County Branch: community mental health, addiction and crisis services for Barrie and Simcoe County.
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