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 Ottawa
Build a relationship that feels safe again. Online couples therapy for Ottawa partners whose weeks run on office days, commutes and plans that keep changing, 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: most of what you say to each other is about pickups, office days and who is working late.
- 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.
My partner and I both work in the federal public service in Ottawa and the routine stress is dulling our relationship. Could counselling help?
It could. Secure, structured work still carries its own pressures, and when both partners bring the same kind of fatigue home, closeness is often the first thing to go quiet. Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, a Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, offers couples therapy online across Ontario, so sessions happen from your own home in Ottawa. Through Emotionally Focused Therapy and Schema Therapy, she helps partners name the pattern they are caught in and rebuild closeness, by video, in English or Farsi. Tina Abadi, RP, and Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, also offer Emotionally Focused Therapy for couples online, in English and Farsi.
We work different office days and barely overlap during the week. How do we fit couples sessions in?
With sessions held online, an office day gains no extra trip: you log on together from home. A fixed weekly hour is often easier to protect than a new slot hunted down each week, so bring both calendars to the free 15-minute consultation and work out which times are realistic. Ghazal, Tina and Roya all offer couples therapy, and each can work in English or Farsi.
One of us already uses an employee assistance program. Can we do couples therapy with NoorMinds as well?
That is your decision, and some couples do use more than one kind of support at the same time. If either of you already sees a counsellor through work, say so at the start, so that what happens here complements that support instead of competing with it. NoorMinds is independent of any employer program or community agency, and receipts are provided for your own insurance claims.
Next Step
Ready to reconnect?
Book a free 15-minute consultation and find a time that works around both of your office weeks. 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 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:
Ottawa
Couples therapy for Ottawa households
In a lot of Ottawa households, the week is built around the federal government's office rules. When the number of days public servants must spend on site changes, that is not an abstract policy shift for a household with one or two federal employees. It decides who does the school run, who spends the evening on a bus or in traffic, which nights are left for each other, and whose job absorbs the next change.
Arguments in a week like that rarely begin with the relationship itself. They begin with logistics: a missed pickup, a late arrival, a partner who has stopped asking how the day went because there is no energy left to hear the answer. Emotionally Focused Therapy brings the loop beneath those logistics into view: one of you pushes harder to be heard, the other falls silent to avoid another fight, and both of you end up feeling alone in the same house. Schema Therapy looks at why a routine rewritten from outside lands so much harder on one of you, and what older experience it echoes.
Ottawa's year has its own rhythm as well. When the Rideau Canal Skateway opens and Winterlude takes over February weekends, some couples find the season pulls them out of the house together; for others, the long dark stretch is when distance settles in without anyone deciding it should. Neither is a diagnosis. It is simply worth knowing which way your household tends to go, and talking about it before the next winter rather than in the middle of one.
Couples therapy online means one less trip in a week already organized around office days. You join from home, whether that is Orléans, Kanata or Centretown, and a 90-minute session leaves space for the talks a Tuesday evening never has room for. You can speak English, Farsi or switch between them, with Ghazal, with Tina or with Roya.
Local support in Ottawa
These are independent organizations, not affiliated with NoorMinds, that some couples find useful alongside or between sessions.
- Family Services Ottawa: counselling for individuals, couples and families, with a sliding fee scale.
- Counselling and Family Service Ottawa: bilingual counselling and support for individuals, couples and families.
- Counselling Connect: free single-session counselling by phone or video through a network of Ottawa agencies.
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