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 Oshawa
Build a relationship that feels safe again. When job worries, changing shifts and a long drive home keep crowding out the two of you, therapy gives the relationship an hour of its own. Online couples therapy for partners in Oshawa, 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 roommates than partners, going through the motions but 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.
- Worry about work or money comes home with one of you and turns into an argument about something else entirely: the dishes, the in-laws, who never listens.
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.
For couples in Oshawa, all of this happens online. Neither of you has to leave a shift early, cross the city in winter traffic, or explain to anyone where you are going. You join from a private room at home with a stable connection, and the conversation can move between English and Farsi as you need.
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, nobody drives across Durham Region after work, 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.
Job and money worries in our house keep turning into fights. Is that something couples therapy works with?
Yes. Work and money stress is a common reason couples start therapy, and it rarely stays about money: it tends to show up as criticism, withdrawal or arguments about something else. When a household's income depends on a plant, a hospital rota or a trade, that worry can feel very close to home. Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, Tina Abadi, RP, and Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, all offer couples therapy online using Emotionally Focused Therapy. Ghazal also brings in Schema Therapy to look at what each of you learned early about security. Sessions are virtual, in English or Farsi.
We both work shifts in Oshawa and barely overlap. Can online couples sessions fit around that?
Often, yes. Because sessions are online, neither of you has to add a drive to an already uneven week; you join together from a private room at home. Session times are shown when you book through Jane, and the free 15-minute consultation is a good place to talk through which times could work with rotating schedules. All you need is a quiet space and a stable internet connection.
Next Step
Ready to reconnect?
Book a free 15-minute consultation, together or on your own, from wherever you are in Oshawa. 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 Oshawa and across Durham Region, from Whitby and Clarington to Ajax and Pickering, and throughout the rest of Ontario. 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:
Oshawa
Couples therapy for partners in Oshawa
Plenty of Oshawa couples know what it is to plan a life around a job that might change. The city grew up with General Motors, and the recent history is concrete: vehicle production at GM's Oshawa Assembly stopped at the end of 2019 and the plant began building trucks again in late 2021. Whether your household depends on the plant, the hospital, a campus or a trade, a stretch like that is a reminder of how quickly a couple's plans can be rewritten by someone else's decision.
Job and money worry rarely stays in its own lane. One partner copes by planning, checking the numbers again and again; the other copes by going quiet, and each reads the other's way of coping as not caring. Emotionally Focused Therapy works directly with that loop. It slows the argument down until each of you can see the fear underneath the criticism and the overwhelm underneath the silence. Schema Therapy, which Ghazal brings into couples work, asks why an uncertain paycheque lands so hard for one of you in particular, often because of what security meant in the home you grew up in.
Time is the other pressure. In Statistics Canada's 2021 Census data, the Oshawa census metropolitan area had one of the longest average commutes of Canada's large metro areas. When one partner is out the door before six and the other works late, the only overlap may be the tired end of the day, which is exactly when small hurts get said badly or not said at all. Online sessions add no drive to that week: you meet from your own living room, and the hour you would have spent in the car goes back to the conversation.
Housing adds its own weight. Durham Region has had the lowest average resale prices in the GTA, yet the average was still around $900,000 in mid-2025, and carrying a home at that price can decide which partner's job feels untouchable and how much overtime counts as necessary. Those choices are easier to make as a team once the fear underneath them has been said out loud.
Couples sometimes ask whether there are community options as well. The Region's Family Services Durham and Catholic Family Services of Durham both offer couple counselling, and they are listed below. At NoorMinds, Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), Tina Abadi, RP, and Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, all see couples online across Oshawa and the rest of Ontario, in English or Farsi, using Emotionally Focused Therapy. Ghazal combines it with schema work for couples who want to look at the deeper patterns too.
Local support in Oshawa
These organizations are independent and not affiliated with NoorMinds; couples sometimes find them useful alongside or between sessions.
- Family Services Durham (Region of Durham): the Region of Durham's own individual, couple and family counselling service.
- Catholic Family Services of Durham: a non-profit agency offering counselling for individuals, couples and families.
- Carea Community Health Centre: a community health centre with an Oshawa site, offering primary care and counselling.
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