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 Thornhill
Build a relationship that feels safe again. For Thornhill couples who want somewhere to talk that sits outside family and community circles. Online couples therapy 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?
- The same argument flares up again after every family dinner or holiday: 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.
- You grew up with different traditions, languages or holidays, and each family quietly expects its way to win.
- So many people know both your families that it's hard to find anywhere private to talk about the marriage.
- Looking after an ageing parent, or sharing a home with one, has taken over the time and privacy you used to have as a couple.
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.
Our families all know each other in Thornhill. How private is online couples therapy?
Sessions are online, so there is no office visit and no waiting room; you join from a private space at home. What you discuss is confidential under CRPO standards, with the limits required by law, which your therapist explains at the start. Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, Tina Abadi, RP, and Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, offer couples therapy in English and Farsi.
We come from different faiths and cultures. Will the therapist treat one side's traditions as the norm?
No. The work is about how the two of you respond to each other, not about which family's way is right. Emotionally Focused Therapy helps each partner put into words what a tradition means to them and what they fear losing, and sessions can be in English, Farsi or both. The free 15-minute consultation is a good place to ask how that would work for the two of you.
Next Step
Ready to reconnect?
Book a free 15-minute consultation: just the two of you and a therapist from outside your circle. 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:
Thornhill
Couples therapy in Thornhill, outside the circle
Thornhill is a place where circles overlap. It is home to a large Jewish community, much of its life running along Bathurst Street on the Vaughan side, and to Iranian families, Russian-speaking families and many others. Grandparents, cousins and old friends are often a short drive away, and for many couples a good number of people know both families.
That closeness is a real support. It also shapes how couples look for help. When your friends are also your partner's friends, and your parents and your in-laws turn up at the same celebrations, speaking honestly about a marriage that is struggling can feel like a risk to more than the two of you. Online sessions give you a room outside those circles: you join from home, there is no waiting room, and no one sees you come or go.
Some couples also bring two traditions into one home: interfaith and intercultural marriages, partners raised in different languages, families with different ideas about holidays, money, or how involved grandparents should be. Emotionally Focused Therapy helps each partner hear the fear or longing underneath the argument, rather than the position they defend on the surface. Schema Therapy looks at the older patterns each of you learned at home and why they collide at the same points every time.
The calendar can make it concrete. Nowruz arrives with the spring equinox, Passover in the spring, Hanukkah and Christmas in the winter, and each brings its own questions about whose table, whose rituals and which grandparents come first. A disagreement about one evening is rarely only about the evening; it is about belonging, loyalty and what each of you hopes to pass on.
Care for ageing parents can be another strain, whether a parent lives with you or needs rides, appointments and advocacy across town. Partners can end up operating as a care team and forget to be a couple. Therapy makes room to notice that, and to decide together what you owe your families and what you owe each other.
Ghazal Sheikhtaheri, Registered Psychotherapist (Qualifying), CRPO #21300, Tina Abadi, RP, and Roya Dadollahi Sarab, RP, all work with couples online in English and Farsi. Sessions last 60 or 90 minutes; a free 15-minute consultation comes first, with one partner or both.
Local support in Thornhill
Independent organizations serving Thornhill, not connected to NoorMinds, that couples may find useful next to therapy or in the weeks between sessions.
- Jewish Family & Child Service: counselling, family support and community services, with its York Region branch at the Promenade in Thornhill.
- Catholic Community Services of York Region: counselling for couples, families and individuals in several languages, open to people of all faiths and backgrounds.
- Iranian Women's Organization of Ontario: support groups and Farsi-language counselling for Iranian women and families in the GTA.